I love this time of year! I can't believe that Christmas is less than a week away! All of our shopping is done. All of our gifts are wrapped. I have granola to make all week and cute little boxes to put it in!

This week should be very busy at work, so I expect for the hours to really blow past while I'm there. Yesterday went by really quickly.

After the holidays I get my own BGES email that I can use to contact companies. T has had me doing a little bit of the buying here and there and he says that he's going to teach me everything about the store. He's put me in charge of contacting the company for the Orbit Baby Stroller and ordering them for our store. Now I've been doing all of the mail orders (both phone and internet), the purchasing and receiving vouchers, merchandising and the store newsletter. I'm excited to learn more so that I can apply it to my own little business someday.

Things are good. I'm feeling settled in. I wish that our house was a little bit more festive for the holiday... but we didn't take any Christmas decorations with us when we moved and it seemed like a waste to go out and buy a house full of decoration when we could be using the money in so many other ways. That said, we have the necessities. We have a little tree, stockings, Charlie and a little Santa.

By the way, this year I'm cutting corners. I'm giving Santa those instant cookies from a mix and the reindeer are getting baby carrots. I work on Christmas Eve and have lots to do that night. I'm making jalapeno poppers, 7 layer dip, a meat and cheese tray, a veggie plate, a lemon meringue pie, a banana split pie, a cheesecake and peanut butter cups when I get home from work. At noon the following day CK, the girls, Jay and I are heading to JD's for Christmas... which is something that she and I used to dream of when we were young. Long friendships warm my heart. This is particularly true because my family is so far away.