Ponderings and Plans, not necessarily in that order

Looking forward to a busy but fun weekend ahead. Greg and I are running in the City of Allen Rudolph Run 5K tomorrow, weather permitting. Abby has an all day service project with her youth group at a local food pantry, and Emma has ballet and then she'll be serving at her ballet company's Tea with the Sugar Plum Fairy. I am finally going to see The Help with my niece and sister-in-law in the afternoon, which I am pretty excited about.
And the Big Event of the weekend is...

Our annual Christmas Tree Decorating / Eat Chinese Take-out for Dinner Thing tomorrow night! Of course it is always frought with tangled, burned-out lights irritation, "that's my ornament!"itis, little welts where the fir needles poke us, sap from the trunk on our hands for about a week, general exhaustion from the whole experience, some repositioning after Grace is in bed, and needles everywhere, but honestly, the Chinese food makes it all better.
We've had this tradition for at least 9 years - enough to validate it with a red Chinese take-out box and chopsticks ornament. Our beautiful tree is standing in a bucket of water in the backyard for the time being, quivering in anticipation, I think.

Deep thoughts and/or quotables from the week (the ones I can remember):

Grace is a big Beverly Cleary fan, and she particularly loves and feels a kinship with Ramona as the youngest. Her comment after reading a portion of Ramona Quimby, Age 8 together tonight - "Beverly Cleary just knows how life really is."

I think I need to start my own bubble bath company. I am almost out and put it on the Christmas wish list that Grace started for every member of the family. I really do appreciate the wonderful aromatherapy scents I've had (relax, sleep, etc), but sometimes I need bubble bath called "Kick in the Rear" or "Get up and go organize a closet, already!". Haven't quite figured out the scents yet, but I'm working on it.

My Current Currentlies:

I am...
Currently reading: To Kill A Mockingbird and loving it (haven't read it since high school). That Harper Lee can craft a sentence - every one, in fact.

Currently listening to: Gungor's latest album Ghosts Upon the Earth - they are musical geniuses, amazing to listen to while running.
Sara Groves' new album Invisible Empires - love her voice and thoughtfulness.

And that's about it for now, because it's Friday night after a long week and my eyelids are getting droopy.
Happy Weekend to you.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad