Christmas tree

Tonight we bought a Christmas tree. We already have a fake one downstairs, but for the living room we needed a tabletop tree so it would be out of Noel's reach, and I wanted a real one. It's a Frasier fir, very lovely. Most of the decorations are finished now, except for figuring out where and how to hang the stockings (you know Noel will pull on them constantly) and adding more lights outside.

Noel had his one-year portrait session this morning. I wish I could say he was all smiles and having a good time, but that would be a lie. It wasn't too bad, actually, but we didn't get many pictures before he refused to let go of me. Then we had to wait 45 minutes to look at the images on the computer. Grrr! Even I was getting bored and frustrated over that. Thank goodness Dominick was at preschool.

Dom's obsession of the day was a diamond saw blade (in its packaging). He took it from the laundry/tool room, thinking it was a CD, his other current obsession. At the time, Larry from the water company was in the basement installing a snazzy new meter that can be read from outside the house. Dominick took the blade out of the laundry room, then yelled, "Guy! Why did you break Noel's CD? That was his!" I can hardly believe this is the same boy who used to freak out around other people. Now he has no qualms about striking up a conversation, if you can call it that, with anyone. The only reason we were in the basement was that Dom followed the water man down there. Speaking of the water company, we're having a devil of a time getting them to repair a leak that's causing water to bubble up from our front yard. The resulting stream goes several houses up the street, and our lawn, er, weed patch, has turn to mush. I guess I'll have to call again.