Holiday festivities

I can't believe Christmas is next week and 2010 is less than two weeks away! Boy, time goes by faster and faster every year. Last weekend I attended an Army Christmas party with Drew. It was fun seeing all of the soldiers and being able to put names to faces again. The first and last time I met most of them was back in June at the Army picnic. Last weekend's event was a really nice get-to-gether and I think somewhat sentimental for the soldiers because they are deploying next year. As of now, they are scheduled to deploy to Iraq in September. It sucks to think about, but 1. anything can happen before then so there's no reason to worry about it now and 2. it's encouraging to see how well the soldiers get along and are dedicated to what they do/will be doing.

(Yes, that is Drew squatting in the front on the left, and smiling)

This weekend is also fun filled with my dad's family Christmas party tomorrow. It's a pretty big tradition - they have been gathering for Christmas dinner since 1952. Just recently it was changed to the Sunday before to get a better turnout with people having to attend multiple family functions on Christmas day. I'm going to help my mom bake cookies when I get home from work in a little bit. For as long as I can remember she has been in charge of bringing desserts. She and my dad have been making buckeyes all week and I'm going to attempt to make a variety of sugar and or chocolate chip cookies. We'll see how ambitious I am after this shift is over.

I'm not sure what's in store for this evening, but hopefully the snow doesn't get in the way. We haven't had much yet, but there are flakes falling this morning. I love the way it settles on the tree branches...it looks so pretty.