1) My stepsister, Jenny, spoke up during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and said, “Katie, I want your name in the Christmas gift exchange this year!” I was surprised, because I only see Jenny 8 or 9 times during the year and wondered how she possibly not only knew what to get me but was also excited about it. And then she reminded me of the Christmas list I posted right before I came home and thought she could handle my extensive wants.

2) My best friend, Tracey’s, new temporary-until-someone-hires-her-to-use-her-Master’s-degree job is at this frou-frou scrapbooking store with a workroom for customers. I thought her having to work instead of sitting at home with me all day was going to impede our usual fun-making, but it turns out I’m really good at getting stuff done on my four-years-with-Kamran scrapbook when she just pops in every now and then to say hello instead of entertaining me nonstop with cats and children’s movies in her home scrapbooking room.

3) And her working at the store and my being there for hours at a time with her totally put us in the mood to look at our old scrapbooks, one of which is The Kissing Book, which chronicles all of the toads we had to tongue until we met our current princes. We went through each page, told stories about each boy, and were kind of grossed out to find our little black hearts filled with love when we got to her husband’s page and then Kamran’s. It turns out we actually sort of like the boys we’re with.

4) Tracey and I went to visit our other best friend from high school, Katie, whose baby is one of the happiest I’ve ever met. Katie really knows how to grow some of the cutest kids around, but apparently at least one of them is a vampire:

Right? The flash on her tongue totally looks like teeth.

5) Noel Cordle met Tracey and me for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which she had unbelievably never been to before. We had a really great time talking about in-laws, polygamy, and the things you can’t say on your blog, but I got kind of concerned at the end that Tracey and I were talking way too much about ourselves. I’m pretty sure every sentence started with “when we were in high school” and ended with “and that’s why my mom thought we were lesbians”. Sorry, Noel!

6) It was my family’s week to light the Advent candles at church that Sunday, so I read some Bible verses to the church and then spent the next 20 minutes fighting back tears as we sang praise songs. I have no idea why church music makes my cry–sentimental childhood feelings or horrible guilt?

7) My cousin, Ethan, and his wife, Katherine, threw a party for me and told me to invite anyone I wanted. I guess they thought I’d make it some swingin’ bash, but I just invited Ethan’s parents, his sister, and their family friend who became one of my good friends when we all roomed together in college. Oops. It was a great excuse, though, for us to sit around and talk about that year on Worthington Street when my car got spraypainted and I didn’t thank Ethan for cleaning it off for me, when a bird flew in through the chimney in his room and he broke his TV in trying to get it out, when someone lit the dumpster outside our house on fire and we made friends with the neighbors while waiting for the firetrucks, and when Ethan’s sister threw out his bag of ice because it was taking up too much of the freezer and he had to walk down the scary alley to the Taco Bell in the middle of the night for a refreshing drink. I swear we didn’t live in the ghetto. But close.