Haddy, and Merry Belated Christmas!  (I need to play catch up so forgive me for the length...)

Jan and I went to Wimberley for a couple of days to be with my family for Christmas.  It was a great time and hectic as it always is with the Wilson clan.  We are always on the move and usually there's about three to four different sects doing different things.  Luckily, the stablizer this year was my niece Morgan who is 1 and a half.  It's so nice to have her around to take the focus off of me (I was the youngest for 25 years until she hit the map.)  So, now instead of people asking me to say any word they can think of they would ask her instead, which is of course extremely cute.  It was really nice to have everyone there with us:  Mamie and Papaw (whose health has been poor lately), Aunt Pam, Mom, Dad, me, Jan, my sister Jana, bro-in-law Michael, and Morgan (not to mention a total of 4 dogs; some residents, some visiting.)  It made for a full household, but at least I didn't have to sleep under the dining room table like last year.

We also got together with Jan's parents on Christmas night to exchange gifts and to watch "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days."  That's actually not a bad movie.  I've seen it three times.  It is rare that I see a movie more than once, but one day I needed to cheer Jan up so I bought her a copy of this movie.  I made sure that it was one that I could watch multiple times if I had to.  That is why I did not by any J-Lo movies. 

Jan's parents are strongly thinking about moving to Austin and retiring at the end of the school year.  We are very excited about this possibility.  We went looking at some houses with them the other day which was exciting too and it made me wish we were loaded so we could buy a new house and rent out our current place.  Patience, Brandon.  Patience.

In the past week, we watched all three Lord of the Rings episodes.  Saw Return of the King last night/this morning and absolutely loved it!  It is kind of sad that the series is over, but there is talk that Jackson could do The Hobbit sometime in the future. 

My parents let us have their old fake tree to use this year to try out.  I think they forgot two things:  1.  The tree is half the size of our condo.  2.  The top of the tree. 

So, Jan wrote a poem about it.

Our first Christmas Tree…

By Jan Wilson.

It’s about 4 feet wide
and 5 feet tall
Green with lights
We’re having a ball

We won’t need a star
Because we have no tree top
Don’t worry though
It’s not a flop

Soon the ornaments will be hung with care
Thanks to our friends and family
Who are always willing to share

There are a few presents
Just waiting to be wrapped
And placed under the tree
As soon as I am apt

It will be so much fun
Jan and Brandon’s first tree
Taking up the dinning room
What a sight it will be!