Wintery weekend

I took my final for my class today, which means I'm done with school for about 6 weeks! I hope it went well. I think I focused my notes a bit too much on old material and didn't quite have all the judicial support I needed, but I went into it with a solid A and I'm hopeful. I'm looking forward to an evening of wine, The Office, and spending time with my husband. I've also got a festive weekend ahead.

I've been planning something that I'm super excited about. I've mostly kept it a secret at the office so my idea doesn't get snatched. We're having a cubicle decorating contest - yeah, I know, something lame to make life in a box less lame - and I plan to turn my cubicle into... drumroll please... a cocoa bar!! I'm so excited about it. There's a potluck that day, and my contribution will be the cocoa and cookies. I'm going to have toppings like marshmallows, crushed candy canes, chocolate shavings, and cinnamon. My lovely buddy, Salt, is a graphic designer, and she's agreed to design my sign. I can't wait to see it. I'll decorate with everything wintery I can find - snow flakes, some of my snowmen, wintery wrapping paper on the inside walls. I'm serious about winning this contest.

There will hopefully be decorating going on in the apartment this weekend too. I got bit by the bug when I was home for Thanksgiving and we decorated my parents' house, and I told myself I wouldn't do anything until after my final. But now I'm excited to turn our home into cozy Christmas goodness. I don't know if we'll get a tree just yet because we don't want it to get try and start losing needles, but I'm looking forward to getting the snowmen and our stockings out and putting up some lights. What will make me thrilled more than anything is if Mr. Kingston gets excited about it too. A tradition that I forgot to mention is the advent calendar - mine arrived from my mom in the mail yesterday. She got me the kind with chocolate, so I'm pretty sure I can getthe husband on board with this stuff.

Tangent: it's not that Mr. Kingston doesn't like Christmas or isn't excited. We had a great time getting ready for the holidays last year. We went shopping and to Zoo Lights and did other fun festive things. But his family doesn't seem to make a big deal of Christmas, and the memories I have of decorating together with my family isn't something he has experience with.

I'll hopefully get started on some Christmas shopping this weekend, as well. I've got some good ideas, and I'm anxious to get started with the buying. Mr. Kingston wants a Blackberry for Christmas and I told him we could pick it up this weekend if he'd like - I know he's anxious. I want to also sign up for the cake decorating class Mrs. ESPN got me for a shower gift. Of course, if I'm going to have a winter wonderland cocoa bar happening in my cubicle in 12 days, I also need to get started with some baking. And there's more little stuff, as always. It should make for a busy weekend, hopefully making memories of our first Christmas season together.

What are your weekend plans?