We did some not-quite-last-minute shopping today. Jason stayed behind in Target to buy (or not buy? I’m not supposed to know) me gifts, so Simon and I had to entertain ourselves in the car for a while. And this is how Simon felt about that:

Though he’s not a big eater, I still love to have lunch with my little guy.

Rebecca has dubbed Simon the Silent Explorer; he can be quite intense in his curiosity, and he has to check out everything. I actually let him into the cupboard this morning in an attempt to occupy the squirrelly little guy while I made some coffee, but I have a feeling that I have hundreds or even thousands of “I haven’t heard him for a while; I wonder what he’s gotten into” moments ahead of me.

I have a truly wonderful husband. This morning he wanted to get to work early because he has a day full of potentially stressful meetings (he realized this last night when he was taking a turn trying to get Simon to sleep. See? Wonderful). When we woke up to snow—at 7:42, already pushing it to get to work at 8—he still got Simon changed and dressed and then he suggested I go out and try to get some pics of the snow while the winter wonderland was still pristine. (And if I knew more about our camera, I could have gotten some really great shots. As it is, they are all pretty dark and the white balance is all wackadoo. Still, it’s the thought that counts.) And if that weren’t enough, he also filled up the car with gas on our way to work (making him even later)—this because he knows I hate doing it (for no good reason, I just do)—and bought me a caffeine-free Diet Coke because he remembered I’m out and that I haven’t had time to go to the grocery. In other words, in one morning alone he was good to me in so many ways that I cannot even fit them all into a grammatically coherent sentence.

I spent a lot of time today—this frigid winter day—thinking about the heating vents in this old house: close them upstairs and open them downstairs in the morning to keep more heat on the main floor; open them upstairs and close them downstairs before bed to get the bedrooms heated up.

We went to Spilker’s Tree Farm to get a real Christmas tree today (for those of you who are counting, this was our third attempt at a tree this year). Simon was fascinated by the process of cutting the bottom of the tree and trimming the lower branches, which is what he is watching here.

Tonight was the Firespring holiday party. This year’s theme was “Las Vegas,” which meant a lounge singer, blackjack and roulette tables, a big buffet-style dinner, etc. At the end of the night, we cashed in our tiny pile of chips for tickets, which were then entered into a raffle for prizes. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the winners were announced, but we’re still pulling for that new iPod.