The Eye of Kris

Well, as many of you have heard by now (and I apologize to those who I did not get to tell in person), Mary is pregnant again.

The new baby is due right around Christmas, which is not a great time to be born in my opinion. It's not that I worry it will be inconvenient (in fact, it's another great excuse to not travel for the holidays - "sorry, you'll all have to come to Nashville if you want to see us - we're having a baby"). I just hate it for the person who has to grow up with their birthday swallowed up in the holidays every year.

My grandfather was born on Christmas day, and every year I feel a little bad for him. He always gets the combined birthday and Christmas gifts, and there's never any kind of party or real celebration for him. When he turned 80, I tried to get my grandmother to have Christmas on a different day, and for once just celebrate Grandpa's birthday on his birthday, but she wouldn't hear of it. The funny thing is, we don't actually know what day Christ was born (and it almost certainly was not December 25th), but we know that was Grandpa's birthday, yet he gets the shaft. He never complains, though - he'd probably tell you he doesn't care at all. Maybe he doesn't.

Of course, it does mean that I will get to count an extra dependent on my taxes for this year...

Anyway, I'm sure that it will be a great holiday season with another baby coming and Owen being just over two. It will be really interesting to see how he reacts to his new sibling. No doubt there will be lots of family around and I'll be able to take advantage of the holidays for time off when Mary has the baby (which will be especially helpful if I'm working some new job by then).

Since we won't be going to Florida, though, I want to try to plan a trip down there between now and then. I haven't been to Lakeland since Thanksgiving. My parents are currently in the process of selling their house and buying two others (long story), so we'll at least wait until they move to go visit. I just don't want to go down there during the hottest part of the summer.

Speaking of family, our next confirmed visitors will be my youngest brother, Keith, and his fiance Juda, who are coming up in late July. I'm really looking forward to having them up here. Keith has been here several times before, but always with my parents. I don't think Juda has ever been to Nashville, so we should have a good time showing them around and just hanging out. I haven't taken much vacation so far this year, so I'll be able to take a couple of days off while they are here.

We might have other people visiting between now and then, but I don't think anything is for sure yet.