Its A Wonderful Life

Its here already--- The Holidays. I can't believe it! Maybe because it just hasn't 'looked' like winter quite yet up here--brown, no snow, mild temps. As of this typing , though, the snows are falling and temps will drop to a respectable low 20's over night.
  For the first time in almost 20 years we have a real Christmas Tree up. When my son -- now 17 -- was a toddler and money was scary-tight I purchased a very pretty artificial tree after the holidays when it went on 75% off. There is no panic quite like how you will provide a Christmas Tree for your kids when you can barely afford gifts and food.  I decided that year that no matter what else happened at Christmas the kids would have a tree. We used that tree for many a year and it will now be passed to my daughter--now 22-- and her room mates to use in their new apartment. As for us, we re-kindled our participation in a town tradition and went downtown and purchased a cute little Douglas Fir from the Lions in East Park. For now its in its stand, watered and awaiting our family gathering on the 13th to decorate it. Life is good here in our little log cabin....

  And yet I still long for New Orleans. We'll head back down for a week at the end of January and join in on a portion of the Mardi Gras and Super Bowl festivities. We'll also begin looking for a place to stay for the colder parts of the year. I now have a general pay-off figure for the house in East Jordan and a sell-by date to get out from under it. Depending on how much it sells for we will either buy a place outright in New Orleans or rent for the winter of 2014. Its beginning to come together and I'm terribly excited! We''re somewhat open to neighborhoods but both agree that The FQ/Marigny Triangle area downtown or The Irish Channel , uptown are the areas we are most comfortable with. I prefer downtown whereas Jack would like to be in the Irish Channel... budget will decide all though...

  We're also not sure who will be joining us; our son graduates this spring and I suspect he will come south with us but so far we can't pin him down on any plans.
  But for now we are here in Charlevoix for the winter-- planning the holidays, working, and watching the snow fall.
Life Is Good.