Are you ready for Christmas?

My shopping is done.  I bought the last of it online today (an Amazon gift card for Josh).  Everything else is wrapped and under the mini tree.  I opted for a small 3 foot tree on top of a table this year.  I figured that Angie would have eaten the ornaments (and tree).  I got a new gate for the top of the stairs since Mollie figured out how to open the other one.  I thought it was a really good choice.  It was more secure, had a wider opening, would stay open if desired and looked nicer than the other gate.  I set it up last week and it worked great all week.  We went out of town this weekend and when I got back, I discovered that Angie (most likely) had tried to eat her way through it as the main part is made of wood.  Luckily she didn’t succeed, but now it doesn’t look as nice.  It is still functional, but I’m very irritated with her. 

We went to Austin this weekend to meet up with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins.  We headed up Friday evening and came home this morning.  My cousin works at a Hampton Inn and we got a rate of $29 a night.  We went to a musical of A Christmas Carol on Saturday night.  It was… interesting.  It incorporated a lot of jazzed up Christmas songs and pop music – kind of like Moulin Rouge.  Josh didn’t care for the music.  The music was ok, but I thought the performers were very talented. 

On Sunday afternoon we went to see the one man show performing “This Wonderful Life” which was basically a performance of “It’s a Wonderful Life” by a single performer.  I saw it last year and enjoyed it again this year.  Josh liked this show much better than the one the night before.  After that, we headed to my cousin’s apartment for Christmas dinner with the family.  It was a bit crowded – a one bedroom apartment with 11 people, but it was nice to hang out with everyone. 

Matt had to head back early this morning at 6:00 a.m., but Josh and I slept in and didn’t leave until around 9:30.  I’m making spaghetti for dinner tonight.  I guess I tend to cook more when Josh is home visiting. 

Our Christmas plans are to have steaks for lunch and then go see Into the Woods at the movie theater.  Matt probably wants to go to midnight Mass, but I think I’d rather just go on Christmas morning.