I've always been the type of person that has needed a good amount of sleep and I never had trouble falling asleep until now. I find myself lying in bed for hours and my thoughts go from one thing to the next and the next thing I know the alarm clock reads 2am. When my alarm clock goes off in the morning it is really hard to drag myself out of bed. I also need everything to be just perfect by my standards before I can even attempt to fall asleep; the tv must be off and the room dark, the humidifier or some type of white noise must be running, I must be sleeping on my belly with one leg bent and my arms under my pillow, must have my two pillows under my head, must be warm but not too warm. Does insomnia come along with age or do I have too many things on my mind?

J wrote in her blog exactly how I've been feeling about Christmas. She's an awesome writer. I wish I could get the words down as lovely as she does.

Yesterday we picked up our tree which left me feeling rather bitter. We weren't in the van 5 minutes and the tree was starting to aggravate my allergies. By the time we got home I could barely breathe. I didn't really help decorate instead I listened to Chad mumble about the lights. I'm not sure how I'll get through the season with this tree in my house. I was so disgusted that I told Chad that next year we'll have a fake tree, I don't care about tradition! I was really cruel with my words but I felt terrible and I had to constantly chase Lindsey away from the tree. She pulled hard on the branches twice and the tree almost toppled over. Today I have to pick up Chad's aunt at the airport and my van is full of pine needles. I'm not sure if I should just leave them still or vacuum them up. I'm thinking that if I vacuum them my allergies will feel worse. Who knows! Bah Humbug!

Whoa! The storm picked up so quickly this afternoon. At 2pm we started having windgusts of up to 70mph and blizzard conditions. I left to pick up Kaelyn and it was blowing so hard and the snow was piling up quickly. I just heard on the news that the Vineyard reports an 81mph gust. Yikes. Lindsey is at my mother's house. She's napping so I'm hoping that when she wakes up things will have calmed down a little.

I just heard that we're expecting a snowstorm starting at midnight tonight. I was planning on going to the grocery store because my cupboards are bare. Now I've got to fight the crowds.

I fixed the link to the lighthouse. Take a look at the photos they are beautiful. Thanks Andrea! The oil burner technician got to our house sometime after midnight and we had heat by 2am. I was already stressing about the heating bill ($400 to fill our oil tank) and now I'll have an added bill for a service call in the middle of the night. It could be worse. I hope that I didn't jinx myself by buying this sticker for my van.

We took a ride to Kittery, Maine yesterday to do a little shopping. First we visited the lighthouse in York which was so pretty. There is a trolley car suspended on a cable which runs from the island to the mainland and was used by the lighthouse keepers. I wanted to get Kaelyn a pair of clogs from the Hanna Andersson outlet but they were sold out because they were recently on sale. We also spent quite a bit of time at the Kittery Trading Post because there is just so much to look at.

Today we went to a cookie decorating party. My friend (Chad's cousin's wife) puts in on and the kids have such a great time. She makes all of the cookies and icing along with lots of other treats.

Chad just called up to me. Another annual thing that happens around here is that our furnace decides not to work on a frigid 25 degree night. Tonight is that night. Chad's calling the heating company now and hopefully they can come soon. If not, I've got to bundle the kids up and head to my parents house. Argh!