HOME.

Whew. It's finally here - the first of three big breaks during the school year. I so look forward to coming home for these stretches. I may not always get to sleep in or get done what needs to get done, but I'm home. No worrying about roommate drama. No wondering about what I'm going to eat since I don't have time nor money to buy food. It's just somehow simpler.

I've only been back home for two full days now, but already I've helped Lacey with her sixth grade homework projects (she's currently reading a book about Pearl Harbor, and I am her walking, talking dictionary. She also writes articles for her school newspaper! It's so wonderful to see her following in my footsteps. Not that I ever wrote articles for any newspaper at her age...but she likes to read and write. What more could I ask for?)

I got some Christmas shopping out of the way yesterday. See, I love buying gifts. I can't stop. The sky's the limit, regardless of how much money my debit card says I have. So, I'm a quarter of the way done with Christmas presents. And then there's Black Friday coming up! There's no telling what I'll find while scouring through aisles and crowds. I adore it all.

I'm I I <--- that close to being done with grad school applications. I just need to send a few things out in the mail, get a few questions answered, and BAMDONE. Which is an unspoken relief, to say the least.

Sometime this week, we'll head up to Pauling's tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree. This ismy favorite part of Thanksgiving break; picking out and decorating the tree. Every year, everything seems to fly by so fast, but my own personal way of curing this fast pace is sitting in front of the lit up tree at night, when everyone else is asleep, watching the lights blink on and off. On and off. Hot chocolate never tastes as good as it does when sitting alone in the living room, watching the gaudily decorated Christmas tree. Oh, how I love it. And the Christmas music! Amy Grant. Bing Crosby. Ella Fitzgerald. A little Mariah Carey. Oh man.

And Thanksgiving is just the start. It's the start of candles and amazing food and family and gift-giving. It's the start of good moods and snow and music that makes you feel like you're holding a teddy bear. It's just one reminder in a million that God is so good.

Weeding.

A good friend once told me that we need to surround ourselves with people in which as little as possible is lost in translation. It clicked the first time he said it, but as it rolls off my tongue again, the more it all comes together.

Of course. It's common sense. Why would we surround ourselves with people who don't understand?

I think, though, that sometimes it takes a while to sift through all the good fun before we realize that some people just don't get us. It takes a while to weed, to sort, to push away.

But is it all time wasted?

Ingrid.

There's a boy next to me and he never will be

anything but a boy at the bar. And I think he's the

tops, he's where everything stops

how I love to love him from afar.