Karl and Angela Rees

Karl worked a lot at the beginning of last week to get everything in order for the holiday. But we had a lot of fun hanging out together over the holiday. Wednesday night we played games with Wayne and Becky. Thanksgiving morning we headed out to Angela’s grandparents, and from there to Angela’s uncle Robert’s house near Sacramento, and from there to her uncle’s brother-in-law’s house nearby where we had dinner with lots and lots of people. The food was excellent, particularly the Pecan Pie and Angela’s candied walnuts. Somehow we managed to avoid immobilizing ourselves with food, opting instead just to overeat a little. From there, we headed back to Angela’s grandparent’s house, where we stayed and chatted for a few hours until Thomas’ bedtime. Thomas, by the way, did not enjoy the one hour drive back to Angela’s grandparent’s house at all. He did fairly okay the rest of the time (especially on the drive home after his bedtime). Unfortunately, he’s starting to develop memories, because he appears to be traumatized by his carseat now. Friday and Saturday, we relaxed around the house and got ready for Christmas. We tried to do a little shopping in the late morning on Friday—for the most part, it was a bad idea. Frys, especially, was horrendous. Lines wrapped all the way around the store. We ended up with most of the exact same deals from Frys on Saturday with hardly any lines. Circuit City was a little less hectic, but the only things left were cheap movies. But we did manage to get a lot of online shopping done. Friday night we tried to do a movie night with Wayne and Becky. Thomas, Paela, and DVD problems complicated the night, but most of us at least saw most of The Two Towers. Saturday night we bought a Christmas tree. It’s probably a little early, but we won’t be around for Christmas, so we wanted to get our money’s worth out of our tree. We were surprised that the price was a little less than what we paid in Utah last year. Sunday night we decorated it, with Thomas’ help of course. Thomas was particularly interested in the lights. We’ve been letting Thomas cry himself to sleep the last three nights. He cries for about 5-10 minutes, then falls asleep. It gets shorter each night. So we’re counting ourselves lucky right now, and hoping he eventually stops crying.