I haven't been very consistent with my posting the last few months, I just seem to get busy on the weekends when I should have a lot of time and the week day evenings have all been filling up with odds and ends. Also, without the garden to report on there just isn't that much news. The last few weeks have been relatively peaceful as we prepare for the holiday season. Last weekend's main event was putting up the Christmas tree. We used a tree from our yard although this required a fair amount of pruning and judicious placement since we don't have those perfectly sculpted trees you can get from Christmas tree farms. But they look nice after decorating and allows us to feel like we are living off the land a little bit - OK, a real little bit. We spent the day getting the tree trimmed and decorating the rest of the house with the sounds of Christmas sounds blaring throughout the house. This weekend we decided to fire up our kiln and get some of our thrown pots through their first firing. We haven't fired in a long time but fortunately the kiln still works. Right in the middle of the firing (kiln is up to 700 degrees F, how cool is that!) as I write this blog. Pictures of the actual pottery outcomes will have to wait until next week's blog. Tomorrow we are planning to hit a few stores to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping for each other, family, and friends. The coming week is looking fairly relaxed at work as everyone begins to gear down for the holiday break.