Yes, I'm still around

I'm a bad blogger. Bad! I have broken the rule of blogger etiquette. If one wants people to come and visit your blog, one needs to post on a (semi)regular basis. I have been derelict in my duty. I humbly apologize (Pam bows her head).

It's been a hectic, busy, exhausting two weeks since my last post. On the TTC front, there's nothing going on. I'm basically in the 2ww and AF is due to appear on the 24th. So in the meantime, I've been working my butt off both at the office and at home. V. and I are still madly unpacking boxes to get ready for Christmas. However, we had our Open House on the 17th which was a rousing success. Everyone thought we were insane to host a party for upwards of 35-50 people two weeks after we moved. But was great fun and everyone had a blast. There was tons of food and drink. Many of my family thought I had way too much food, but I had to remind them that the other half of my family is West Indian. For anyone who is/knows a West Indian, they're a hungry, thirsty lot. :) At the end of the day, we had some, but not a lot of food left, quite a number of empty alcohol bottles, and satisfied friends and family I consider that a successful night. And to top it off, my brother and his family surprised us by being able to join us. They'd driven in from Chicago the night before so it was a treat to see them, and have them see our new place.

However, because of all the prep involved leading up to the day (ie. baking, cooking, cleaning) I was exhausted Sunday night. Oh, and I also set up the Christmas tree at 2am on Sunday morning to make sure that it was up, decorated and ready for the party. I've not truly recovered from the sleep deprivation as yet, but I'm on vacation from tomorrow, so I intend to catch up and recoup. After all, we're hosting the family for Christmas Day so that means another couple of days of prepping and cooking in anticipation of their arrival. It's always a lot of work, but for those of you who know me, know I thrive on this kind of thing. I love hosting parties. I stress about the menu before hand and if I'll have enough (although I've never run short), but in the end, it all turns out well. And Christmas is going to be fun. For the first time in the 8 years I've known V. this will be the first time we will have everyone here. Hopefully V.'s brother and his family will be able to come into town for a few days, we've got V.'s cousin and his girlfriend in from Trinidad, his parents, his sister and her grown kids, his cousins and their families, my mom and my younger brother (the Chicago contingent will have returned by then), and a friend who would otherwise be spending the holiday alone. At last count, if everyone is able to make it, we're looking at 22 people. This is going to be great! I'm looking forward to it. I'll let you know how it all goes.

If I don't get back to posting until after Christmas, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Channukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Christmukah, Happy Festivus and whatever other holiday you may celebrate.