No decorations yet...

I have had the best of intentions to haul my Christmas decorations out of the crawl space, but the nights just seem to pass too quickly!

Monday night was the first time I had been to my fitness class in a couple of weeks. I was very pleased to see that I could get back in to the 'swing' of things fairly quickly, too. By the time I got home from that, the last thing I wanted to do was to start pulling out boxes.

Last night I got home from work about half an hour later than usual to find that just the A-man was home. Hubby and S had gone over to help a friend install their TV satellite dish. After a fairly quick dinner, the A-man and I got to work. He on making another kugelis dish, and I on contacting family members to pull together a family tree album I want to make for a Christmas gift.

This idea just popped in to my head yesterday, and I am now determined to make it happen. The only problem is that it's for my Dad's family - he is the oldest of 9 and a few of the family members are sort of estranged from others. It's very complicated to say the least.
Anyway, through the wonderful world of Facebook, I have been able to get quite a bit of information already, and I know I will be able to pull photos that way, too. I'm hoping to be able to turn this in to a gift for both my grandparents and my Dad. I did a similar thing a number of years ago for my Mom and my Dad was very touched by it, so I'm sure it would be appreciated.

My Dad is the oldest of 9 children. I am the oldest grandchild - there are 24 grandchildren now and about 36 years between me and the youngest. I have counted 17 great grandchildren, but I have 2 cousins that I am sure have children and I am waiting for details about that from my Aunt.
The A-man is not the oldest Great Grandchild, but he is the oldest Great Grandson. (One girl born about a year and a half before him...) Yes, a very large family tree, and that does not include any of the children that have come into the family as step-children; like my eldest niece!

As I was on the phone with my cousin getting information, I could see the A-man peeling potatoes, chopping onions, and gathering all the items he needed. He eventually interrupted me to see if I could assist with the chopping. We finished putting together the dish and popping it in the oven just as Hubby and S returned.

S got to work on his homework, then the two boys played a game of chess before bed. (I will admit - this no electronics on a school night is quite lovely.) S tried to tell us that he only had Math homework, but his brother had shared with me that he also had some French homework that he didn't want to complete. I "checked" his agenda - which he is going to keep updated daily to earn more Mom Bucks - and then asked him about French. He gave a groan, pulled out the binder and finished the work in about 10 minutes. What a guy.

Turned out Hubby was sent home from work yesterday at his lunch time due to a machine malfunction. Both plants were sent home for the remainder of yesterday and all of today. He didn't mind the chance to sleep in this morning, and was actually looking forward to getting some computer jobs finished up today. It was nice to have some time together last night after the boys went to bed. (Hubby usually goes to bed around the same time as the A-man...)

I am going to be attending a Grade 8 information session tonight at the highschool. Not sure how long it will be, but I'm pretty sure I won't have a chance to haul out Christmas decorations tonight, either. Sigh.