System Status: December 2013

Christmas feels less and less like itself every year as I get older. I think temps in the 60s and no snow this year haven’t helped that feeling much. Still, we stuck to our traditions and put up a little tree (I’m a huge fan of using tabletop trees instead of the big ones as they’re so much easier to manage, not to mention cheaper!) and got our customary four gifts (something to wear, something to read, something you want, something you need) which we opened on Christmas Eve while watching It’s A Wonderful Life (also a tradition). Christmas day was spent at home playing with the presents from the night before (or, in some cases, trying to get them to work) and feasting on ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and apple pie with a late visit from my dad and step-mother to bring gifts to us. It was a quiet Christmas, but that’s not such a bad thing sometimes. 🙂

In the end of December (and 2013!) I am….

…reading several books this month. I’ve been trying to get off my computer more lately and read instead of mindlessly surfing the internet, wasting away on Facebook, or staring at my site stats. Reading is good for me. I did not like The Violets of March. It read like, of all things, a chat roleplay, which is not a compliment. I actually read parts of it out loud to E so he could confirm my point of view. I did, however, finish it in two days. Normally if I don’t like a book, I don’t even bother…so there’s something. I did like Garden Spells. It was another lighter read (compared to the others I’ve attempted lately that were either just too depressing or too heavy to try and plow through), but still good. Right now I’m reading (I can’t believe I’m admitting this) Redeeming Love which falls into the Christian romance genre. Oh, please don’t judge me. I used to read Christian romance all.the.time and lately, honestly, I’ve just wanted something fluffy (which I think is why I stuck with The Violets of March). This one was recommended to me several years ago when I first started getting into the human trafficking fight as it relates to sex slavery. It’s definitely not fluffy and does feature your typical Christian romance characteristics, but the story has managed to suck me in, so here I am. I have no idea what to read after this….any suggestions?

…watching nothing. All the fall shows are on break right now and there are no movies out that we want to see (except for Mitty, but our theater-going days are on hiatus for an undetermined amount of time). I think we’re planning on renting Elysium on New Years Eve because reflecting on dystopian societies is a good way to ring in the new year!

…loving Imagine Childhood. They actually hand-delivered one of B’s gifts this year because it was too big to fit in the box (it was the display model on which they had already given us a discount) and we got it Christmas Eve. I was very, very happy with the entire transaction.

…eating lots of chicken which we have in abundance thanks to the chicken CSA. My new favorite chicken seasoning recipe is the spice-rubbed leg quarters from Much Ado About Chicken. I’ve been using it pretty much every time I roast any kind of chicken (which I probably do too often).

…looking forward to buying a new house next year. We found one in the mountains that we both absolutely love, but we’re not quite ready to buy yet (and probably won’t be until at least the middle of next year), so I’m trying not to obsess over it (and check the listing multiple times a day). It does give us hope that we’ll be able to find something we both like, though.

And there’s me at the end of 2013. What about you?

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