I took some photos of Maya last week to send out in lieu of real Christmas cards in which I would have to write (or at least sign my name). I got her all dressed up and the sun was shining, but she really wasn’t into it. Junior was a little easier to work with, and I didn’t have to worry about him falling off the chair.

Last Saturday Jim and I went to the Detroit Opera House and saw Too Hot to Handel with our friends J & Z. It was a jazz gospel version of Handel’s Messiah and it was smoking. Really, it was fun. Maya spent the night at Jim’s parent’s house for the first time that night so we got to hang out after the show until midnight! The next morning I slept in until ten, something I haven’t done in over 9 months. It was a really needed break for me, especially since that afternoon I had taken Maya to a craft show at a bar in Detroit, which involved loading her in and out of a stroller and car seat several times in the freezing cold and carrying the stroller up a flight of stairs. Unfortunately, even after attending that craft show I have still purchased zero Christmas presents. However I have finally come up with a list of presents I would like for Christmas, including some new fiction I will probably never have time to read and the Ove Glove.

The big debate in our house these days goes to the heart of what Christmas is all about: should we get a real or fake Christmas tree? I say go artificial. We had a fake tree growing up, so that’s what feels authentic to me. We have a nice artificial tree available to us for free, so why spend $30 to get a prickly, dying tree that I’ll have to try to remember to water and keep Maya from licking? I don’t know, Jim has some reasons for wanting a real tree, but I forget them.