The Unadventures of Tracie

Christmas has come and gone but you get to read about it again. This year Austin and I went to Texas to spend Christmas with his family. I was excited to see his family but also felt a bit strange about being away from my family on Christmas for the first time ever. We flew out on the 21st after Austin had finished his finals. (He did pretty well. Way to go baby!) My parents generously drove us to the airport, and we arrived in plenty of time. There were no complications or setbacks. It was actually quite empty for this time of year. We had a relaxing time while we were there. The week consisted of visiting with family, including both sets of grandparents who came and left at different times; playing Shanghai (I won twice.); watching Psych (a funny TV show friends have been trying to get us to see forever); seeing Alice perform in The Messiah (which was much longer than I thought it was. Apparently there’s more to it than the Hallelujah Chorus); visiting Brett and Laurie and their t...

Here I am back at work. Cold, dark, tired, and sad. Presents have been opened, food has been eaten, oh yes, Christmas is over. Don't get me wrong. Christmas was good. I just hate being back at work today. I couldn't sleep again last night. And now I'm here at work with nothing to do (and no management in sight) and my lights are almost off (and blinking annoyingly) and it is freezing cold. I wish I would have had today off as well. Anyway... here's a rundown on my short Christmas break: Austin and I finished the last little shopping we had left to do over Friday and Saturday and just relaxed. Sunday we went over to my parent's for the McNeil "Bring a Special Thing and Share Memories and Eat Treats" night. That was fun. It was good to see some extended family and hear them share some thoughts. We were to bring an object that was special to us and explain why. I brought my guitar that my dad had given me, and Austin brought his painting he had done in Italy....

Okay, I got this from Amanda. I’m also going to combine it with the Christmas quiz that Jen sent around. 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both, though I do like getting gift bags so I can reuse them later. 2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial, and prelit. I really don’t understand why you’d still want a real tree these days. It’s more practical, economic, clean, and reusable. 3. When do you put up the tree? After Thanksgiving sometime. 4. When do you take the tree down? Probably after New Year’s. 5. Do you like eggnog? Nope 6. Favorite gift received as a child? Keyboard that I really, really wanted 7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Not yet 8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad. Good thing I don’t have to anymore since I’m just going to donate to my parents’ mission fund from now on for gifts . 9. Easiest person to buy for? Austin is actually pretty easy to shop for. 10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Don’t really know. Most gif...

How tender are thy branches! Da-da-da-da, da diddly do, da-da-da-da, bah liddly do.....How tender are thy branches! Yes, those are the only words I know. So our Christmas tree is finally up & trimmed! (It's been up for a week or so, but it has shiny red and gold ornaments on it now!) It's so pretty! It's my first tree, and I'm so proud. I'm going to take pictures. Unfortunately, I can't post them since I still don't have a card-reader or a cord connecting my camera to the computer. If anyone want to get me that for Christmas, you're welcome to. Then you'd see pics more often. Anyway... today was my first performance review at WGU. I was a bit nervous, but everything turned out well. My managers actually rated me better than I did myself. I got "exceeds expectations" in every category! They said I was doing well, and they expected me to accelerate rapidly and eventually be a senior editor and leader. They also addressed my con...