Christmas is officially past- plans for January

Christmas is officially past - the tree is down and packed away. All the other Christmas decorations are packed up - a few gifts still need to find homes - but all signs are gone. I still need to dig out the usual pictures and knick knacks that sit on the shelves and end tables. The snow village and all my snowman decorations are still out. They will stay out until close to Easter.

It feels so good to have the open space in the living room. The tree takes up one whole corner and becomes the focal point. Now we are much more comfy.

DD19 is heading to Chicago to visit my sister on Monday and will not return until Thursday, so it will even seem like she is back at college for a few days.

DD17 of course will be back at high school and taking the semester final that had to be re-scheduled due to a snow day in December. She will be happy to be done with that too. Of course, it is the class she dislikes the most (she dislikes all of her classes at times) and the one she struggles with. Thank God it is only one semester so she is done with it after tomorrow.

We have some big plans for January. My sister is planning to come visit and we are going to make Freezer Meals from Saving Dinner
We did that in 2007 when she was preparing to undergo treatment for breast cancer so she would have some easy meals in her freezer in case she needed them. (Fortunately she did not need many of them as her church family kept her in meals and one friend in particular brought her something every couple days). But they are really convenient and we are going to do some again.

And also in January is a marriage retreat that we are attending. I am on the committee and will be in charge of the registration so we will both take off a day for that so I can be there earlier to get things set up. This is the first marriage retreat led by our church so we are trying to "talk it up" with the other couples. So many are afraid that they will be forced to talk about things they don't want to or that by going it tells everyone they have marital problems. They don't realize that everyone has marital problems of some sort. The retreat is meant to encourage the couples and focus on what God has said about marriage and our roles and responsibilities in a marriage.
DH and I attended a Weekend to Remember a couple years ago and it was great for our marriage - of course, we still have problems and we don't do everything we planned to do for ourselves at that retreat, but at least it made us realize that we have the same goals and need to work together not pull apart.

Well, back to knitting until it is time to leave for church. I am about 2/3 done with the baby blanket. Will post a picture when it is completed.