Ready for Christmas!

I can't wait for Christmas! The stockings have been hung on the railing with care (since we don't have a mantle) and I hope St. Nicholas soon will be here! About half my family will be coming to Charlotte to spend Christmas with us and I'm so excited. We had a VERY long drive back from visiting my family in Missouri for Thanksgiving and I started decorating for Christmas literally within an hour of getting home. :) I found matching stockings for almost everyone (poor Ian - they didn't have any with I's), which I thought will be nice even for the times we can't all be together at Christmas. (Joe, Jill, Gen, & Mom - don't worry, yours will be in the mail soon!) It will be wonderful to have some relaxing time to spend with those who can come.

It's hard to believe that it's Christmastime already. It seems like we just moved to Charlotte. We're actually getting close to the half-way mark in our time here. I have to say that Charlotte is starting to grow on me. If it weren't for the facts that our families are so far away and Ian has a non-compete clause in his contract that prevents him from working here later, I could see us considering staying here long-term. I guess those are some significant hurdles. I recently decided that Charlotte has the perfect climate. When we lived in Houston, I really missed having seasons. Charlotte has 4 distinct seasons, but the winter doesn't get too cold. It's really just cold enough to feel like it's winter without all of fuss of shoveling snow, scraping the car every morning, and generally freezing your tail off. It's a very pretty place - lots of trees and hills and curvy roads. I get to drive through farm country on my commute 3 days/week and I like seeing all the pastures and cotton fields. Even if we won't be here forever, it's nice to spend this year here. I'm looking forward to sharing everything with my family when they come!