Too busy to write lately!

Boy oh boy this is some Christmas season . . .I'm ashamed that I havent written much lately. But that should change.

Amanda took the day off on Friday for her annual cookie baking extravaganza--she will write more about that later, so I wont go into too much detail. But it was terrific coming home on Friday for two reasons: one, it meant I was on vacation (after a very nervewracking week of school), and two, because my wife was home from work, the house was warm with a wood fire, and the kitchen was redolent with the sweet smells of Christmas cookies. Also, as you can see, she was enmeshed in the wrapping of Christmas presents. I love coming home from work and having Amanda there . . .I wish she could be home all the time--especially when the little Goldsmith arrives. But times are different now; many of our friends share the same concerns that, during this day and age, it is almost financially impossible to only have one income while a "stay at home mom" remains with the kids all day. So why could our parents do it? Were things cheaper back then? I doubt it. Was it school loans, or the absence thereof? I dont know. Maybe our parents all sold blow on the black market. Who knows.

On a lighter note though . . .

I mentioned how I arrived home to the warmth of a wood fire. Well, suffice to say it was a VERY warm wood fire. Our indoor thermometer is a little off (on the low side) so you can clearly see our dining room was a crisp 87 degrees; the stove, combined with a 400 degree oven, completely decimated my household population--both Amanda and Thomas were, by the time I arrived home, rendered incapacitated by heat exhaustion I think. That is all for cookies. Amanda will write later . . . .

Last night I did something that will definitely make my mom upset: I went snowshoeing by moonlight. If you've never walked, at night, in the snow, in the woods, by the glow of the moon, then you are really missing out. It was a spiritual experience to say the least. It was also very arduous, and quite a workout. Some parts of the trail were packed down by snowmobiles already, so that was great. Other parts, the ones less travelled, required that I "break trail." And, with close to two feet of snow in the forest, this was quite the process as I found myself sinking and kicking snow up to my butt constantly. Last night was cloudy, as we are getting some wet weather today, but even so, the glow of the moon through the foggy sky provided a trail on which I could, 90 percent of the time, be "headlamp free." I even had some light snow falling in the woods, which added to the romance of it. Occasionally, I would stop, and listen--to nothing. The woods at night is an eerie place producing now sounds except for two: whining snowmobiles miles away in the distance, and the noise of something moving through the trees (probably a deer I scared away or something). Absolutely pristine snow walking.

Today is a cookie delivery day and a food shopping day. I need to get all the makings for our seafood inspired Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow . . .