Christmas 2007

As the year wraps up and Christmas approaches, My Girl and I have made a solemn vow: “Let’s shake things up and try to get our Christmas cards to our family and friends BEFORE Christmas this year.” It may not seem like much, but we like to keep trying to improve things. As you’re reading this, there’s absolutely NO NEED to consult a calendar, ‘try’ is a key word in front of ‘improve’.

My Girl got a dream job working for a high end tour operator company, in downtown Chicago. As all of you know, she’s always loved traveling as well as anything/everything European and this fits in very well with her job because, she’s in charge of all custom and standard tours to…Europe! wooHOO! She talks to a customer and sends them on their dream vacations all over Europe. There are some definite side benefits to this job of hers, but more on that in a minute.

Things WE did this year:
-Watched TV, watched each other, watched the scenery travel by the car window.
-Played “Remove Your Finger From My Ear…now.” (My Girl doesn’t like this game so much, but I still get a kick out of it)
-Played the Lottery on the chance to retire early
-Organized (to a highly unusual degree) the garage so that two, count’em TWO whole cars can now fit into it…and neighbors say “Wow. THIS is highly organized garage…”
-Had friends over for dinner, been to friends for dinner.
-We decided that THIS was finally the year we landscaped our very…uh…’open’ yard.
-Learned that commuting to Chicago on the train as a couple is more fun than commuting alone.
-Cleaned the house at LEAST twice…I’m still tired from all that activity. (According to My Girl, SHE cleaned all the time, I cleaned it only twice…then she said something about my butt, the couch, gravitational pull, etc, etc. (Honey! Shush! The games on!)…)

Things WE did NOT do this year:
Retire early
Landscape our yard
Organize any other part of the house in which anyone but me may use.
Travel the world!
Figure out how to productively and effectively plan a weekend so that I might avoid turning a couch and TV into a career choice.

Things MY GIRL did this year:
-Found a job that allows her to fulfill her travel addiction while sparing our spare change
-…and drink wine purchased by the CEO on Friday’s after he announces “Hey! It’s 4 o’clock! Who’s thirsty?”
-…and take trips to really cool foreign lands…like Paris in August…which the company pays for
-…and stay at 5 star hotels…which the company pays for
-…and eat at REALLY cool restaurants…which the company pays for
-…all while I’M AT HOME thinking ‘Well, the Sears Tower is bigger than the Eiffel Tower anyway,…who wants to see that?!’

Things WE’RE going to do next year
-DECIDE to landscape our yard…aaagain.
-Continue early retirement plan
-Organize a room of the house that OTHER people use.
-We’re gonna GO TO ITALY!
-…My Girls Boss David is SO way cool enough to suggest that she take ME on a Familiarization Trip to Italy! AND (against all expectation) SHE DOES!…yeah, that’s right! Because SHE WANTS TO!
-…My Girl needed someone to carry luggage (I’m so OK with that I may even clean the house again)
-…My Girls Boss David is my new bestest friend in the whole world (and he likes GOLF TOO! I’m gettin’ all misty. David, can I call you Dave? Oh…OK. That’s fine, Sir. Yessir. Nope, I won’t,…ever again, Sir, no Sir…Yessir…but, Sir…but, but, I LOVE ya! Sir.)

I hope that this year found you success in areas you didn’t expect, happiness in unexpected ways, and love all around. My Girl and I wish you a very Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and hugs when you least expect them.