The Holiday Begins!

After many long months of study (and a few still more to come), a grueling summer internship, an early fall interview bonanza, & lots of prayer Kyle has finally decided to accept his offer with DE Shaw in Houston. We are really, really, REALLY excited this is settled and we know what we'll be doing come graduation. So congratulations, Kyle! And to all our friends and family in Texas...we'll be back soon (with a new Bethancourt addition for you to meet)! We should find out sometime before Christmas if we're having a boy or a girl. I'll make sure to post that info here for all the inquiring minds.....

On Sunday Bun and I put up our little Christmas tree and trimmed it with care. (By the way, Bun is the baby--as in "Bun in the Oven"--we had to come up with a name to refer to the baby instead of "IT". I credit this naming style to our friends Steve & Rachel who named their 2 children pre-birth, Dot & Milli. Makes sense to me). The tree and 2 stockings are our only Christmas decorations so "decorating for Christmas" is a fun yet very short-lived affair. I even delayed putting on the tree skirt & buying some candy cane decorations until Monday so it was actually a 2 day affair this year.

Last night I came home weary from New York and was delighted to have the tree lit while watching a Charlie Brown Christmas. Nothing says holiday like Charlie Brown! Speaking of the holiday spirit, my favorite holiday hangout is Williams Sonoma. This is a weekly (if not bi-weekly) outing for me. It's about a 5 minute walk to WS and it's so inviting that I can't resist....I go in and sip on hot cider and eat all the goodies they have out for me to taste. It's like going to visit an old friend....except my friends don't have 50 varieties of knives & cookware hanging on the wall for display? I pretend to look at the same ol' stuff everytime I go in but really I'm just there to eat and drink and feel warm & fuzzy holiday feelings for free.