It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Ahhhh yes, things are blooming, I am wearing my sundresses, Eric is enjoying the 'shorts-weather' . . . it must be getting close to Christmas! I have read that most parts of the midwest have had between 2-16 inches of snow along with some ice in the last week or so, and in Georgia, the evenings are getting cooler and leaves are falling off the trees. I have to be real honest here, I think I prefer the 'looks' of Christmas in Brasil better than the US! Like for example, this picture was taken Saturday at the CNH Engineering Department Christmas Party. As I recall, last year at the Burlington CNH Holiday Party we put the Explorer in 4 High for the drive home because there was a nice thick layer of ice forming over the snow covered roads. Do I really need to explain myself any more than that?!?

We will be leaving here Thursday to fly to Chicago and then wait it out through the holidays while the Brazilian Consulate gets our final visas all in order and ready for our return to Brasil. I am excited to see everyone, but I am really hoping for some massive global warming between now and then. My body has gotten quite accustomed to the 75-85 degree days of Belo Horizonte, and I am quite certain I will go into some sort of shock when I step off the plane in Chicago! (Everyone please start burning some styrofoam in your backyards, and, ladies, it is time to pull out that aerosol hairspray!) ;)

Last week was spent mostly trying to get the apartment all cleaned up and ready to move into, so it left little time for blogging (and little to blog about: today, I scrubbed the bathtub, oooo-ahhh-the excitement!!!) We also received our stove, fridge, washing machine, and bed last week. We got our couch, which might I say is really awesome and I can't wait to get it, ordered this weekend. So hopefully when we return we will get our table and couch delivered which will make the apartment much more livable! We had big plans to move this weekend, but after a series of events and further consideration, we decided to stay here until Wednesday and then just spend our last night there before we leave for the US. It makes things a little less complicated that way.

Between the beauty of online ordering and the shopping we've done down here, we have the majority of our Christmas shopping completed with the exception of a few people who have not given us a Christmas list or any ideas . . . I won't mention names, but you know who you are!!! ;) The fun part now is trying to get it all packed into our suitcases and somehow manage to stay under the weight limit. For some reason we have been exceptionally drawn to really heavy items this year. Which might make sense except the part where we have to get it back to the United States and then that part where we have to fly with it once again when we go to Georgia. Thank goodness for suitcases with wheels, that's all I'm saying!

My goal is to go get some more pictures of the apartment tomorrow, since it is all clean now. I will try to get them posted in the afternoon for your viewing pleasure!