The Eye of Kris

I have officially re-joined the ranks of the (slightly) visually-impaired. About 5 years ago, I had LASIK done to correct my very terrible vision, and it was great. I tested at 20/20 and loved not having to deal with glasses or contacts anymore. However, LASIK does not prevent the continual deterioration of vision that most people experience - it only resets your vision to what it should be. So, after 5 years, I've finally come to the point that I need some help with seeing things clearly from a distance again.

My eyes are still not all that bad - I can drive and do most things just fine, but I can't always read the small street signs or everything on the screen in a meeting. I think they tested me at about 20/50. So, I went ahead and got some glasses, and I'll wear them as needed. I'm still glad I had the LASIK done, even though it doesn't "last" forever, because my eyes would be horrible by now if I hadn't. I may even do it again in a couple of years. We'll see.

In other news around the Kelso house, we have been busy preparing for Christmas. I decorated the house with some lights this year, and I think it looks pretty good for my first try at it. I've never done any outdoor lighting before, and I didn't totally "Grizwald*" the house (as my neighbor says), but I tried to do it up right.

We had a Christmas party at our house last weekend for our Sunday School class, and I think it was a great success. Almost everyone in the class showed up, and we had good food, a gag gift exchange, and played some games. It was really nice to get to know some of the newer couples. We've started to see some good growth in our class lately, and hopefully that will continue next year.

We have a couple more parties to attend this week, starting with a party at my boss' house tonight, a breakfast at work on Wednesday for the whole department, and then a dinner with the MTUG on Thursday night. After that (probably Saturday), we head to Michigan to spend Christmas with Mary's dad and some of her extended family. I'm sure there will be more Christmastime gatherings up there.

I really hope we get some snow while we are in Michigan, because I'd like to take Owen sledding. He's never really seen a heavy covering of snow, and even if he had, I doubt he'd remember it. We haven't had much snow in Nashville the last couple of years.

The only bummer lately (aside from another quick trip to Boston last week) is that I've been suffering from allergies, and it's worse than usual this year. I've got a lot of congestion in my throat and nose, and my voice is about half gone. I haven't been able to sleep very well, so I'm tired on top of it all. I just don't feel very well in general. I've started taking some stuff for it in the last couple of days, so hopefully it will clear up before we make our trip north.

Other than that, though, I can't complain. Things are good. We are blessed. Busy, but very blessed.

* This is a reference to the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. If you have not seen it, stop what you are doing and go rent it right now. Really. Get going.