I love this time of year.

We get to see family and friends, take some much-deserved time off from work, travel if we are lucky, and ski if we are very, very lucky. This year we have been very, very lucky indeed.

Yesterday was our second day of beautifully-cold, snowing ski days. The day before that I took a private ski lesson with Amy (Sister amy) and improved quite a bit, if I do say so myself. Yesterday morning, we went down some steeper slopes, and for the first part of the day I chickened out a little, went back to my lovely green-blue-green-blue slopes, but then toughened up in the afternoon and faced the music (not to mention the fact that the slopes usually look much harder than they are).

Seeing our Utah parents has been wonderful! Also, visiting Amy is always fun. Thanksgiving is most definitely one of my favorite holidays.

Before we left Austin, we put up our Christmas tree and had our annual decorating the tree celebration, complete with holiday music, chocolate truffles, and champagne, I firmly believe that our Christmas tree is the most beautiful tree of all the Christmas trees in existance. How could it not be, with classic white lights, wooden cranberry garland, and all the ornaments from our childhood, including ones we made ourselves, up to the ones that have been given to us from dear friends and family?