1   It’s almost 8:30pm — SPEED ROUND!

2.  Can we get this posted today?

3.  Sure we can. I believe in us.

4.  Yes, I realize I’m speaking of myself in the plural tense. Keep it moving.

5.  You’ll be happy to hear I bought my first Christmas presents yesterday.

6.  Some might argue December 12th is a wee bit late to start holiday shopping.

7.  I would agree.

8.  I’d also say better late than never though so let’s be grateful for forward movement.

9.  It took about a week but the Christmas tree is done.

10.  Ish. The tree is done-ish.

11.  Are there fewer ornaments? Sure.

12.  Quite a bit fewer, really, but who’s counting?

13.  Turns out our girl is counting with a little side eye to boot.

14.  Between my inability to crouch and the iffyness of perching on a stepladder our ornaments are definitely more center mass this year.

15.  I also landed hard on quality over quantity.

16.  Do we have at least 25 company annual ornaments? Sure do.

17.  Eight of those looks pretty on these branches and the others will wait patiently until next year.

18.  Ditto for the dozen nutcracker ornaments.

19.  Ditto for the weird glass figurine ones that I just realized I can’t really describe.

20.  There are a handful of sentimental ornaments up there but most of them stayed safely stored in a bin this year.

21.  Those are the ornaments so special or delicate that they’re wrapped individually in tissue paper and stored with the angel.

22.  Next year I’ll have the stamina to unwrap and hang a couple dozen sentimental ornaments.

23.  This year we’ve got good enough and that’s, well, good enough.

24.  Hey, you know what other little victory we’re celebrating?

25.  Pants.

26.  For almost a month I was limited to extra wide leg pants due to the ridiculously large boot protecting my foot.

27.  I had a pair of pajama pants and two pairs of yoga-esque pants that fit the bill but you know what those didn’t have?

28.  Warmth.

29.  It’s winter — in North Carolina, granted, but still — and pants with a little heft are a gift in colder weather.

30.  Graduating out of a terminator boot gave the pant leg thing the leeway I needed for soft fleecy joy.

31.  Sing it with me, people. SWEATPANTS.

32.  It’s the little things.

33.  What else, what else.

34.  Seven’s favorite part about Christmas remains the fact that there’s a freaking tree inside his house.

35.  He’ll sit underneath and sing up into the branches.

36.  He’ll fly out to pounce on someone walking by.

37.  Have I mentioned we have a cat tunnel around the base of our tree?

38.  It helps cut down on the 14lb boy cat barreling up the tree trunk.

39.  It also provides a zoomy track for chasing his crunchy ball and camouflage for sneak attacks.

40.  Okay, a 10pm post time. Not a win but not a loss either so…joy.