Christmas Gifts & Florida Christmas Early before our Asia Trip

 

Christmas in Florida was extra early this year since we're leaving soon for our Asia adventure. Connor came in town on Thursday evening, and Paige has been dying to open the gifts as soon as he was home. We forced her to wait until Saturday, but don't feel bad for her because she still got to open her gifts twelve days early.

We purposefully tried to spend less and buy less this year with our upcoming vacation, so it was a short event today. Especially so since Connor opted for money instead of gifts. 

ENT Appointment and Ear Tubes for Connor

As is tradition before any big trip, Connor is having medical issues. Over Thanksgiving we noticed his hearing was really bad. He's been struggling with a cough and cold ever since he started college, so it's possible and likely it's related to that. Andrea got him an ENT appointment and after their hearing tests, it was clear that he had an infection and needed medicine as well as tubes. It was painful for Connor, but they got tubes put in both eardrums immediately, cleared out the clogs, and he's doing better now. Hopefully there won't be any complications during our trip, and hopefully his ears will work better for him as well.

Fish Fossil

 

While the fossil isn't really needed until we're eventually in the house we're building, there was a holiday sale and I got the approval of Andrea and Donna (our designer), so I bought it early. It's a bit much for my little office in our rental, but I cleared a spot for it and got it mounted with the help of our handyman. It's heavy. I was a little worried we were going to drop it, and also worried the mount will come loose from the studs, but so far it's holding.

Haircuts with Millie Mae

Millie Mae got her hair cut recently, and prior to our Asia trip, the rest of the family got haircuts as well. Millie went with Paige and Andrea to Julie's house to hang out while they got haircuts and to socialize with Julie's dogs. 

I got my hair cut over my lunch break, and since I know Millie loves to go to Trasca, I knew she wouldn't want to miss it. The barber shop I go to is very happy to have dogs join them. I was not sure where Millie would sit while I got the haircut, but she was very content to sit in my lap, mostly under the cape. She loves to go everywhere with me. Are we ridiculous? Yes. But we love each other and we had a fun day together.

High Schools Against Cancer - Hope Lodge Christmas Crafts and Cocoa

Paige's club High Schools Against Cancer had their third event at the hope lodge this past week. Andrea did a lot of planning and picked up a number of craft kits for the event so the participants could paint and decorate three different Christmas themed crafts. There was a snow globe, gingerbread house, and gingerbread man mug. Paige's friend Kendall brought a hot cocoa machine and a number of the students brought snacks. 

The event started after the residents were served dinner and it was a slow start at first. I was worried that nobody would want to participate, but eventually a number of people came over and they all seemed to enjoy the Christmas music, crafts, and hanging out with the high schoolers.

We hope that we made the holiday season a little brighter and fun for the patients and their family members.

Christmas Shopping with Andrea

Since we're planning to travel to Asia over Christmas and New Years, we did some of our Christmas shopping early and we're also planning to be a little thrifty on gifts so we can spend our money on souvenirs instead. We gave the kids the option for some money for Christmas, or for gifts. Connor chose the money and Paige wanted gifts. We did most of our shopping online, but Andrea and I enjoyed going through the PVIC shops during their member discount event and we bought a few things. It was decorated nicely for the holiday and I snapped a pic of Andrea with some of the decorations.

Homework with Paige

Paige works independently on most things, and doesn't really need my help too much with her schoolwork, however I've had a few opportunities to work with her lately. We like to do the homework in the downstairs bedroom on the Mac laptop, and Millie keeps us company, although she is a little distracting.

Paige finished up her Chemistry online this last week and got an A overall in the class, which was certainly a challenging one.

Lunch with Millie Mae

 

The weather's been beautiful lately and we've enjoyed eating outside whenever we can. Recently, Millie's been joining us fairly often. I go to Trasca with her for lunch during the week, and we also like to go to the nearby Mexican restaurant Anejo which has a nice outdoor area. Millie hardly even eats much dog food some days. She's a spoiled pupper dog, but she's wonderful and deserves tasty lunches too.