Happy Holidays Ya'll!

 As with most people, I've been busy sending out Christmas cards, quickly unboxing and wrapping presents that arrive on my doorstep, getting the house all decorated for the holidays, planning the menus for parties and sleeping arrangements for guests, attending various cookie and ornament exchange parties, helping with school holiday parties, vacuuming needles and broken ornaments off the floor from cat shenanegans, deciding if the traditional fruit cake recipe my parents created should be introduced to my family this year, making 2008 calendars for our relatives so they ALL can have pictures of the kids, answering calls to relatives as to what size my four children wear, trying to convince them that it would be better to send a book than to try and buy them clothes (remember when you're distant aunts bought you clothes?).  WHEW!  Did I get it all?  Oh, wait, still have to take care of the daily activities and work.... there. 

I think I know why the liquor we're saving for the Christmas party is looking mighty tempting! 

This IS actually my favorite time of the year - my children are really behaving these days - perhaps it's years of telling them Santa won't visit if they're bad and their fear of getting coal in their stockings (yes, I really did that one year...hee hee hee!).  But I love this time of year because we all get excited about the "first snow of the season" and we hope for a white Christmas each year, the carols and bells you can hear almost anywhere you go, the smiles and warm greetings from other's (they have the Christmas spirit or perhaps they've been dipping into the 'nog too), the candlelight services at church and all the events and gatherings and everything we  celebrate - this is, by far, the best part of the year.

Merry Christmas!

Kate

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