Christmas Vacation

My this is nice. I recommend two weeks vacation to everyone. It’s been a busy year and I (like others) face the use-it-or-lose-it situation. Company rules only allow me to carry forward 40 hours into 2011, so it’s now or never. As it is, I’m still going to “lose” a few hours.

The weather is cooperating and I’ve been spending a great deal of time outdoors. Yesterday Shana and I went to the local municipal golf course for a few quick laps on the cross country skis. We were under the impression the trail was “groomed”. Not sure where we got that idea. It’s near the high school and used by the cross-country ski team for practice – so maybe we just assumed. It wasn’t groomed – but that did not matter too much as others had broken a nice trail for us. It’s not a long course – only about 10 minutes per loop – but the weather was great – almost 30 degrees and sunny.



Part of the fun was wearing this old jacket on the course. I found it in the closet, and it screamed 1979, so I tried it on and it fit perfectly. We are unsure of its origins, but it’s most likely a Jake original, one of Shana’s father’s hand-me-downs. Not even sure why it’s in our closet as Jake never gives up old items. I usually give most of my clothing away before it gets too outdated, so I’ve been burned lately when all these 1970s (and now 80s) styles are coming back into vogue. Perhaps the time has come for this jacket – perhaps not.



Goal today – give away stuff. We have one bag for Goodwill and another for the local community center which collects stuff for the Karen refugees. [Old Strib article.] Finally, there will be several bags for Half Price Books. I’m afraid to bring them all in at one time – but what’s the chance that I will go back over several days?

Finally - making potato soup today. I currently have a large ham bone left over from the Christmas ham simmering away to create the broth. Smells great!