Now Bring Us Some Piggy Pudding

Christmastime has come to Southeastern Alabama. It started with giant candy canes and silver bells hung from the light posts along Boll Weevil Circle and moved downtown with the Enterprise Christmas parade. Last night was the city Christmas tree lighting, and churches throughout the city will be having living Nativity scenes and living Christmas trees for the next few weeks. Enterprise is quite an exciting place in December with all the shoppers out and about and the stores in Dothan, our shopping mecca, is packed with people like me who wait until the last minute to do all of their shopping at once.

I love the holiday season. The warm glow from our Christmas tree puts my mind to ease in the evenings and I find joy in wrapping Christmas presents - knowing that what I wrap will bring joy to our loved ones. Sending Christmas cards was more of a hobby than a chore and I can't wait to make shortbread and sugar cookies from scratch. As of today, there are only two people we still don't have gifts for on our list (excluding our family in Utah - we won't be shopping for them until we get to Utah so we won't have to pack or ship their gifts) so I don't feel overwhelmed with shopping anymore. That being said, our bank account is looking a little shabby, so thank goodness we have enough food to last us through the new year. I love it though - the feeling of being caught up and on top of things. It's great.

I'm going to veer off the Christmas path for a minute to share a high and low of my week with you.
- My low: Realizing that I am more like the Grinch than I thought. Instead of my heart being two sizes too small, the foundation I was wearing for the past few months was two shades too dark. I bought a new shade this week two shades lighter and, voila, my face matches my neck and I now look like the undead.
- My high: I bought a new pair of jeans today. I only wear Levi's jeans, and I've worn the same size Levi's jean since 2007 when I got back from Northern Ireland and lost weight by working out everyday. Before that, I had gotten up to a size 16 (18 when I was depressed and my self-esteem was extremely low) during sophomore year of college. The size jean I bought today was the smallest jean that I have worn since before I met Sean, before sophomore year... I think I actually busted out of a pair of jeans this size in November of my freshman year at Meredith. So, I'm pretty happy. Unfortunately, I'm losing the weight mainly as a side effect from a migraine medication I'm taking, but the thrill of putting on a smaller jean still feels the same.

On a final note, I love hearing misunderstood lyrics. By this, I mean I like to hear people sing a song with the wrong lyrics that they think are right. It's one of those little things that makes me laugh. For example, I had a friend who thought the Donovan song "Mellow Yellow's" lyrics read, "They call me Mellow Yellow, quite right slick," when they really go "They call me Mellow Yellow, quite rightly." Anyway, the other night in the car Sean and I were singing along to We Wish You a Merry Christmas when Sean sang this gem, "Now bring us some piggy pudding" instead of "figgy pudding." I loved it. Now I sing it the wrong way all the time, and I even substitute Penny's name in for figgy because that's what crazy cat ladies do.

Warm Christmas wishes to you all.