New Additions and Holiday Traditions

Hello everyone!

Sorry I've been MIA lately, but things always tend to get hectic around this time of year. Being as I am a cake decorator and the hubs is a letter carrier, the holidays spark an increase in hours for both of us. It also seems that we have both been doing some hardcore drugs, cause we decided our family needed a new puppy. Yes, you read that correctly, a new puppy. I blame the show "Too Cute" which airs on Animal Planet. I also blame the convenient timing of the pet adoption at Petsmart, which just happened to be going on the day after I watched a "Too Cute" marathon AND the fact that I happened to have my son out running errands with us. You see, a puppy is something he has been begging us for. Without further delay, I introduce you to our little bundle of fur, cuteness and pointy little fangs...

[caption id="attachment_2391" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Meet Jax. He's a Catahoula/Beagle mix who is currently trying to sit on my lap along with my laptop...sigh...[/caption]

Now that you have been mesmerized by his cuteness, let me tell you that puppies are like newborns! I forgot what having a newborn was like since our youngest is 8 years old now and it's been 13 years since we've trained a puppy. Jax has been with us for almost 2 weeks now and I think we are all starting to settle in, get into a routine and hopefully we will be sleeping through the night soon.

My other issue is that while he is like a newborn at night, he is like a toddler during the day. He is super curious and has to check out everything.

This weekend, like every year since I was little, we put up the Christmas tree. Poor Thanksgiving tends to be nothing more than a day that people eat too much and finally don't feel like freaks for wanting to listen to holiday music, shop for presents and break out the holiday decor.

With a new puppy in the house, I had to approach the tree a little differently. I made sure I secured it to the wall, so when I have to army crawl under it to retrieve his tiny butt, I don't knock it over. We also didn't put any breakable ornaments on the bottom a) so he doesn't knock them off, break it and then eat something that could hurt him. b) so we don't kill him for breaking our memories.

[caption id="attachment_2393" align="aligncenter" width="500"] 

Our tree with three of my favorite ornaments. The stockings sum up how my kids feel about each other, while the cd ornament I made a few years back, capture them at what I think might be their cutest.[/caption]

Our tree is my favorite part of the holidays. We have an eclectic collection of ornaments that we put on it, ranging from handmade/photo ones that the kids have made over the years at school, to figurines from the mobile that hung above my crib when I was an infant. Our tree is full of memories and I love unwrapping each ornament and remembering a moment from my past. It warms my heart and also makes me sad at times, because there are loved ones who are no longer with us, but special ornaments that represent memories with them.

The kids love putting the tree up...ok...they love hounding me to put the tree up, come in, select their favorite ornaments, put them on the tree in the worst spots ever and then leave me to fix things. Yes, I admit, I let the kids put stuff on the tree and then rearrange things to my liking when they disappear to their rooms. Don't act like you don't do the same...pfft!

I know this post is a little all over the place, but so is my life. I have however been very consistent with my Couch to 5K! This past week I had to shift my run days around due to my work schedule, but it worked out well because I got to go out and do my own personal Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day. Tomorrow starts week 4, which means I am at the halfway point. I look forward to seeing what the next few weeks bring, since I have steadily improving. Yesterday I beat all of the my previous pace/time/distant stats, which made me really happy.

I hope everyone is ready to have a happy and healthy holiday season. Hopefully I will be a little better about finding time to post here, too.