I always seem to post on weekends. Maybe because that’s the only time anything fun happens?

Friday was a sad day for Patrick. His childhood hero, Evel Knievel, died at age 69. He has resisted the urge to name our child Evel Knievel (thanks, Mary!) but I’m sure it wasn’t easy.

That night, I met him at his office for a little shindig and then we ventured out to witness the holiday illumination of Richmond. (“Didn’t Grant already light up Richmond once?” he asked. He loves history jokes.)

We walked up to the governor’s mansion, where there was a line around the block to go in and see, I don’t know, how they decorated their tree or something. From there we went to the capitol steps and watched the skyline light up.

(This is someone else’s photo from a completely different vantage point. But you get the idea.) 

Yesterday, Patrick got up early and went to take the GRE. He’s thinking about starting a master’s program at VCU next fall. (We’ll have a baby then — isn’t that weird?!) Then we went to get some garland and decorated the porch.

When it got dark, we drove around to look at tacky Christmas lights. There weren’t many, but the ones we found were legendary. Behold:

Today I had brunch with a friend in Carytown and Patrick went to see No Country for Old Men. I repotted some plants and worked on an article, and he is currently slaving away on our Christmas newsletter (which I have to say is shaping up to be the most entertaining yet!)

Christmas shopping gets into full swing this week — feel free to drop hints in the comments!