So, all week I've been thinking about a gift giving post focused on Sofia (and Bulgaria). One of those what to buy for everyone on your holiday list. I wanted mine to be tongue in cheek. I wanted mine to be funny. I wanted mine to have 10 items. Then I got busy.

Somehow this week I haven't eaten a single meal at home this week. This put a serious dent in my list making plan (but on the upside, my refrigerator is well stocked still).

This week, I've been out and about--shopping, Christmas market-ing, Balkan dancing, holiday party-ing, and eating tacos &amp; decorating a Christmas tree. That last one is pretty awesome and I'd encourage you to read it again. Yep. We had a little get together at our boss's house last night that included eating tacos (tortillas, spicy ground beef, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, onion, olives, salsa and guacamole), plenty of sitting around a fire and talking, and then decorating a Christmas tree. It doesn't really get any better than this mix of tacos and Christmas (Southwest Christmas,<em> anyone?</em>). A little unexpected but totally wonderful.

This is basically how my whole week as been. A little unexpected but wonderful.

We got our first real snow yesterday. We had a little fake snow in October but that doesn't really count because it didn't really stick. It's funny before school started yesterday, my students had been moping around about how it doesn't feel like Christmas but by the afternoon they were singing a different tune. Echos of "happy first snow" were ringing throughout our building and after school snowballs were flying.

Happy First Snow!