Wow, It's Nearly Christmas...

Watching my son put ornaments on our small Christmas tree this evening gave me the feeling that I really am somewhere completely new and special in my life. It's such a foreign sensation being a parent right now. I'm watching my boy excitedly play around the tree as I did when I was little, and it's very surreal. It's one of those things that I knew would eventually happen, but there was no way I could have ever imagined it feeling like this.

The whole moment was very brief, as other things were on my mind. Our water heater decided to crack enough to leak all over the laundry room floor. So, as seems to be the trend at our house, we'll be replacing it with a much more energy efficient appliance. What fun to be with a barely functioning source of hot water for a few days! So much for enjoying the one creation of modern man I love above all others.

Michelle's folks stopped by this evening, because I had called up her dad about the water heater. Luckily, a friend of his is a certified pipe fitter and will help us out with the installation. Her parents were out shopping, and in their travels they also picked up my fledgling family's first Christmas tree.

Austin had a blast hanging up ornaments and seeing the many colors of lights. He was insistent on keeping the rest of the house lights off to better see the tree glow.

It hasn't really felt like the holidays this year, though. We see houses covered in lights, but we have no decorations of our own. There was nowhere near enough time and funds for us to take care of that on top of everything involved in assembling a house. It's not as though we won't make use of the spirit we have, though. Austin's seemingly bottomless well of energy, while is often hard to keep up with, does also replenish us, even when we are at our most exhausted.

I still have to admit it will be a tough holiday for me. Not having a single person on my side of the family within arm's reach... It's a bit depressing thinking about it, even though I finally have the wife and son with me that I'd been dreaming of for years. I will just have to be sure to coordinate with my sister to ensure our computers are streaming video to one another. I know Austin'll be excited. He just loves seeing himself in a camera.


All the peace and love in the world is in you, enjoy it.

~Evan

PS, came up with this the other day: "Welcome to Japan's Currency Exchange, where we have a Yen for your money!"