I am a total, unabashed Christmas junkie. Once the holiday season officially arrives — and I am a purist, too, so this means Thanksgiving. Not a minute earlier. Are you listening, Hecht's, with your Christmas trees up the third week of October? (!) — I go full throttle. Egg nog in the fridge. Gingerbread from Whole Foods. The all-Christmas music radio station. Christmas CDs in the car. Decorations up. Cards addressed and sent.

I want to soak in every minute of it for the 4 or so weeks it's here, and then Dec. 26 I'm through. I'll leave the lights up until New Year's Day, but after that, nothing. I don't want to see wreaths on anyone's door or lights on any houses. Pack it up and move on.

But right now the magic has just begun. So break out the advent calendar and bring on the Christmas spirit!

So much to give thanks for this Thanksgiving. We got the final test results back yesterday and everything is normal — 46 chromosomes, no more, no less. A month of nail-biting has ended and now we can return to being overwhelmed by baby preparations. There's an awful lot of stuff to be purchased.

Dinner tonight with the Moon clan at McCormick & Schmick's downtown; no cleanup, no cooking!

And an official sigh of relief. Things continued to look very good on the ultrasound at the perinatalogist's office. The amnio went smoothly, with only a little delay when Future Moon, who was very squirmy that day, decided to raise its hand above its head, right where the doctor was aiming. The AFP portion of the test results are now back and the levels in the amniotic fluid are normal; it's not spina bifida. Something else may be going on which merits watching, but nothing as significant or severe as a major birth defect.

Now we can truly get on with life. Although we had become increasingly optimistic over the past weeks, this erases all doubts. And not a moment too soon. Thanksgiving is here, and so is my belly, seemingly overnight. What was concealable in big sweaters is fairly unavoidable, and will only get bigger from here!

Meanwhile, Grandfather-to-be (and die-hard photography nut) Moon apparently has no patience for either Christmas or the baby's actual arrival, and has already given us a camcorder. We have no excuse for not knowing how to use it come April.

Somewhat lessened anxiety. We met with a genetic counselor at the maternal-fetal medicine specialist's office last Friday. She was very helpful and gave us a lot of additional information. She explained some of the other reasons why my test results were elevated, other than a birth defect, which made the idea that the odds were more likely that it was something else seem more concrete. She also said it was a good sign that the level II ultrasound I had on the 31st looked normal; in her assessment, that reduced my overall risk level from the test result alone from 1:70 to approximately 1:600. Now we return on Friday for a repeat ultrasound since the sono techs and physicians in this office are more trained to look for spina bifida markers than a typical radiologist, and I will be farther along (18 weeks). This alone would screen out 90 to 95% of all chance of spina bifida. But in order to be 100% sure, I am also having amniocentesis. And then we wait a little bit more.

So much can change in a week. Last Tuesday, I got my blood drawn for what I assumed would be a routine prenatal screening test. Then I got the results back. Elevated levels of AFP (alpha fetoprotein), and therefore the possible increased risk of a neural tube defect — the most common of which is spina bifida. More blood on Thursday for a retest. A level II ultrasound on Friday which was positive and encouraging; no signs of anything abnormal. A weekend of limbo, but trying to stay positive and remember the overall the odds are still in favor of a healthy pregnancy. The second results came back yesterday: still elevated, thus ruling out the possibility that the first test was a false positive. The lab's assessment is that this means my risk for neural tube defect is 1:70. The median risk is 1:1000. So now we go to the maternal fetal/genetics specialist OB on Friday to talk risks, and levels, and next steps (probably at least an amniocentesis for a definitive diagnosis). In the meantime, I refuse to be negative. God obviously has plans for us; all we can do is wait to find out what they are.