So it's been over a month since I last updated my blog. I have gotten several complaints from friends wondering why I haven't updated it. (I guess people are actually reading this!) Winter is upon us and that has brought cold weather and snow. The snow fall here isn't such a big deal as we are use to Michigan winters. (and we are very glad we aren't battling this Michigan winter!) But the cold temperatures are outrageous! We have had days of actual temp in the -11 (yes that is negative 11!) Add the windchill on top and we have seen -25! It has been very hard to adjust to such cold temps. The kids don't understand why they can't go out to play and why they have to be driven to school when we only live a block away. We also are finding that our 1300 sq. ft. of apartment space has become even smaller when there is no escape to the outside.

Christmas was yesterday. This Christmas season has been interesting. It was hard to decide which traditions we do just to do and which traditions we do because it has meaning. I waited for the kids to ask, when do we get to do gingerbread houses? When do we get to bake? When do we get to celebrate Jesus' birthday with cake? None of which were ever asked of me. So that lead me to ponder, what is important during the Christmas season? I also struggled with the feeling that we weren't in a place that is home. We are living in this townhouse on a temporary basis. I don't know how long temporary is, but in my mind, this is a stepping stone and I don't feel settled. I struggled with having traditions and feeling like home when I don't really feel like I am home. In the end, we did bake cookies for Santa, we did have cake yesterday to celebrate Jesus' birthday. The kids seemed to enjoy Christmas just like every other year and we were together as a family.

An update on our house. We officially took the house off the market in December. Our contract with the realtor had expired and we decided that since we weren't there to keep the driveway and sidewalk clean and since there aren't a lot of houses sold in the winter we would not renew the contract at this time. Our hope is to do some painting in the spring to make it seem new again and relist in the spring. I am not optimistic that it will sell even after relisting. The economy is so bad right now and houses are a dime a dozen, but I also know that if we don't try it will never be sold. So we will get back on the house selling band wagon this spring and hope and pray that someone will think our house is the best house for them. And if not, the contingency plan is to use it as a vacation home until the market is better in a couple of years and sell it then.