Big Year Ahead

Christmas greetings to all - we had a lovely day.  I'd warned the boys that this was a 'smaller' Christmas than their childhood ones were - and B. (bless is heart) said 'Mom, I really just look forward to time together and relaxing'.  So proud that he has the true meaning of Christmas in his heart and that even though our Christmas' might have been lavish, it's the time together he remembers and wants more than 'stuff'.  You feel like you've done a decent job of parenting when your child tells you that.

And it was still a very lovely Christmas with some fun surprises thrown in.  I don't think the boys felt slighted and they were excited about what they received.  H. asked for gift cards for clothes so that's what he got and he seemed very happy.  B. got some Llamanoes - dominoes but with pics of llamas instead of numbers.  He loves llamas - it's our thing.  We have Lucky Llama hats from a coffee shop in Carpinteria and now we both have Llamanoes.  We played - it was fun!

H.'s boss' boss phoned him on Christmas and asked if he could work today through Friday.  Originally, the request was 4 hours a day - but H. didn't want to work on Friday since we plan to head to Reno by 10AM that morning - so he worked 6 hours today and will do 6 tomorrow.  He carpooled with a friend and was at work by 3:30AM this morning - yikes, that's early.  He's working the laser and cutting the lenses and loves it!!  Very specialized skill and he's doing well, by his accounts of his days.

He was supposed to be heading to San Mateo today to take care of Phase 1 of his legal mess but the lure of double time and also wanting to be as available as possible for the company overrode that plan.  His boss' boss knows about the legal issues and told H. 'if you can work this week, it will not be any issue for you to take off a couple days in January to take care of the stuff you need to take care of'.  So he's working.

He got home around 11AM and promptly went to sleep.  As did B. .  So it's been a very quiet morning.

I took some time to read back in the blog and realize that we have done a tremendous amount of cleaning stuff out and culling.  Much more of the same in the next week or so.  J. took an enormous amount of stuff to a donation facility today and we plan to do more of the same tomorrow and/or Monday.

When we get back from Reno, we'll start putting Christmas stuff away and that will result in a lot more culling - some things aren't going to make it to Carson City, like the Santa's Ski Slope.  The skiers don't work well anymore and they can't get down the hill and back up without human intervention.  So out it goes.  I'll look for something new for next Christmas once we're settled in the new house.  And our tree is definitely going to be trashed - and I'll look forward to getting a new one!

We have a realtor coming to the house in January - we have a list of questions about projects that are worth doing, timing of the sale, how to deal with the pets, etc. - we hope to list the house in May and be out by end of July or early August - but since we still have no idea when our house will be ready, it's going to be a bit tricky.  We'll just have to see how things play out.

I've got some boxes packed up and ready to start stacking in the garage - and sometime in the Spring, we will trek to Carson City and rent a storage unit.  J. doesn't think we need to but I think the house will show better with far less of our 'stuff' in it - and everything we move ourselves is weight and mass we don't have to pay the movers to handle.  I have no idea what to expect in terms of moving expenses but I know the move from Hayward to Tracy was expensive - and Reno is more than 10 times the distance and more than double - maybe even triple - the stuff we have now vs. what we had then.  The mind reels -

There is only the sound of my keyboard tapping and the gentle snoring of two cats and a dog sleeping nearby.  All is calm, all is bright.