First comes love...

When I went to wake Amaru up at zero-dark-thirty this morning, he told me he'd just had a most peculiar dream. 

He dreamt I was nine months pregnant and we were walking up stairs. Lots and lots of stairs in a house that apparently had lots and lots of staircases. Once we got to the top, I went into labor. 

I'm paraphrasing here, but I believe his next thoughts were something like:

"Holy sh** she's really having a kid."

And then I'm sure he had something of a deep-sleep heart attack before he realized that we'd already arranged for some nice adoptive couple to take the thing. Saved.

I have to say the little shyster seemed awfully happy to have woken up from that dream. If I had had my wits about me I'd have realized it was the perfect time to tell him we're pregnant. 

We're not, people!! (and by people, I mean mom). 

But I think that little bugger needs a good scare every once in a while. Keeps him on his toes!

Now I would normally try to figure out the deeper meaning of a dream like that, but in this particular case, I think it had more to do with the fact that shortly before we went to bed last night, Amaru accepted a substitute teaching position in a preschool for today. And his subconscious was subconsciously preparing him for a day amongst the babies or something.

So then, hours later when we got home after work, I logged in to catch up on my Facebook crack and I noticed lots and lots of comments on this photo, which Amaru posted last night:

Yeah so apparently he accidentally posted it into an album titled "A few wedding photos."

The commenters were concerned, and not just with the idea that I may have chosen to wear a dingy gray sweater in my wedding photos:

"Did you guys get married??" asked a friend.

"Anything you want to share?" asked my cousin.

"Hahaha," wrote Amaru's buddy.

Once we discovered the little Facebook snafu, Amaru wrote a nice thorough explanation, just to put everyone's mind at ease. But apparently people don't find him all that trustworthy because it was followed by another one of the "did you get hitched" questions.

So that was my day. Had a baby before 6 a.m. and was married by late afternoon. I may not do stuff in order, but I damn sure don't waste any time setting things right.

Decked the Halls

Isn't there something about tree-trimming that calls for a warm wintry beverage? Like hot cocoa or peppermint tea?

Or warm apple cider?

We opted for the spiked variety. My first three sips of my first mug-full were delish. Then I kicked it all over the carpet. But my second mug-full was a fine runner-up.

We picked out a little five-footer last weekend at a Christmas tree barn near our house. It's a short skinny one that ended up fitting perfectly in our bitty little apartment. It's been so warm here that it's been tough to get in the holiday spirit, but that's nothing a little tree-decorating and Kenny G Christmas music can't solve.

Now that we're a mere two weeks away from my very favorite holiday of the year, I'm sure I'll be hastening up on the holiday festivities. Amaru and I (yep, his name's Amaru. I'm sick of the charade.) are trying to be super vigilant about pinching pennies this year, by forgoing exchanging gifts with each other and by focusing on thoughtful, un-spendy (word?) gifts for our family members. I'm determined that mine will be either entirely homemade or will be purchased from a little local vendor rather than a big box store. Or they will be books. You can't go wrong with books, and I stocked up on a few great gift-y ones at the Ashfield Fall Festival I went to in October.

It kind of ties in to another little social/environmental experiment I'm working on. Which requires that I not purchase a new piece of clothing for an entire year, among other things. Sound tough? It sure is. But I've been at it for two-plus months and I'm determined to go the distance. I'll tell you all about it in an  upcoming post.

For now, I'm off to blog-surf in bed 'till Amaru wakes up. Then I'm looking forward to a weekend full of Christmas baking (and breakfast-making. I'm dying to try this recipe for gingerbread pancakes), a little dinner shindig at my aunt and uncle's, and a Sunday Christmas shopping spectacular.

What's everyone else doing this weekend? If anyone's going to see The Nutcracker ballet, don't even bother responding. I'll die of jealousy.

Sorry for the crap-o pictures. Still using my iPhone as a camera.