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It runs down the Kansas and Oklahoma into Northern Texas. Texas has the most tornadoes each year but Kansas and Oklahoma have more per piece of land since Texas is so big. But in northern Texas, there are quite a few as this map shows. If one notices that all around the Dallas area there are about 6-15 a year.

I never paid much attention to tornadoes before since living in WA and in CA bring mudslides, rainstorms, earthquakes and an occasional volcano. But last Wednesday I took notice. We were due for some thunderstorms and those are always fun to watch. I took my jr. high daughter to her youth group, and two of my little girls to a choir funtime at the church. The wind and the rain started picking up as I drove home. We all sat around watching a video while I waited an hour before I  picked up the younger girls. Just as I was getting ready to drive out, I got a text message from my jr. high daughter that there was a tornado in a nearby town and she was being put in a back room. Right after that we got a call from Caleb’s mom telling us that tornadoes had hit the ground, and the news was telling everyone to stay indoors unless they absolutely had to drive. We looked up everywhere we could on the internet could only find ‘tornado warning’ which is a step up from ‘tornado watch’. (I think I got those terms correct.) Which ever term it was, the weather station sternly said to go into a inner or lower room with no windows and stay till the city siren stopped.

I went out to the front and listened and sure enough, a loud siren was blaring like we were having a bomb raid! We figured that the church knew how to handle these things, and waited to get the girls. We took water and a pillows into the bathroom and waited. We could hear the hail hitting the roof very loudly. We couldn’t find any information on where the tornadoes actually were, but Mom called back letting us know that three had touched ground north of us.

As it turned out, the tornadoes were many miles away but I guess since they are not extremely predictable, its better to stay indoors and safe than be caught in front of one. Plus, even though the actual tornadoes were not very close, the emotion of not knowing where they were, or if we were in the path made the hour we waited, quite intense. The kids turned out to be completely safe and hardly affected by the incident at all which was an answer to prayer. So many things to happen in the first month of the year!

Yes, I know it is almost the end of January and I am writing another post about Christmas Vacation. The thing is, I am just so far behind on blogging that there are so many things I wanted to share and document on this blog that I have not gotten around to. So you will have to humor me and indulge in my catch-up posts. This blog really is as much a diary of sorts for me as it is a way to communicate with my family and friends the happenings in my life.

Another highlight over my Christmas trip to Minnesota was getting to see my Aunt and Uncle and Cousin and his family that I do not see often and that I had not seen  in a few years. They live in Iowa, but were able to travel the couple hours up to Rochester to see us. It was a half-way point for all of us. Just a quick blog to post this pic. Here I am with all the family!

Of course I was holding the baby!

I love you Knoll Family and wish I could see you more. Thanks for traveling to see us. I know we all enjoyed our time with you!

We made it through another family gathering. There must be some exponential formula about the number of children equals 3 x’s of  normalcy. But what is family if not a loud explosion of stories and a secret web of complexity.

Free Labor

• 1. Kids are mean.
• 2. Kids are selfish.
• 3. Kids are expensive.

Danny turned 30 last Thursday and we had lots of fun. Last Monday, I surprised him with a brand new flat screen TV (we really needed a new TV). I had it all set up when he came home from work. The funny thing was that he didn’t even notice it when he walked in because he first saw Landon playing on the floor and went right to him.

On Thursday, his actual birthday, we went to Disneyland with my younger brother, sister, and my sister’s boyfriend. My parents bought all of my siblings and our significant other Disneyland passes for Christmas. Hooray! We had a great time on Thursday and Landon did so well. He didn’t cry a single time and didn’t mind when I disappeared to go on some of the big kid rides like Thunder Mountain. The park was pretty empty since it was a weekday. Danny and I hope to take Landon back to Disneyland sometime this week so that we can go through the park at a slower pace and explore Fantasyland.

My family and I threw Danny a surprise birthday party last Saturday night. The theme was superheros. Landon was Superman and he was so cute! Danny was pretty surprised by the number of people who came. He was happy that his brother, sister-in-law, and nieces were able to attend. They drove all the way from Los Angeles (thank you, guys!). I made him a dirt cake and my sister made a Wolverine-themed cake. It was awesome.

Super Baby!!

Danny's Dirt Cake

Danny is a fan of Wolverine. Hence, the cake.

Happy Birthday, my love! Your thirtieth year is going to be amazing!

I thought it was bad trying to work at home with family nearby – but now I am in Dallas with my SIL & BIL and truly, it’s nearly impossible to think. Family – food – fun – can’t be beat for the proper way to start he New Year!

I didn’t know how much I missed the large family gatherings of my youth. The women, whether in the yard, garden or kitchen – would carry on multiple conversations, sometimes even the teen on the long phone card would wander back into the kitchen and get in the conversation – while maintaining the phone conversation. The men didn’t dare intervene in the hive wanderings – they were relegated to tote and carry.

The first time my husband accompanied me home to the ‘hive central’; I could tell that although he had grown up in a large family, he was not happy listening to more than one conversation at a time before he would start getting irritated, like swatting bees that are buzzing around his head. In fact, I’ve seen him schwap at his head and shake it when he gets irritated – I’ll bet he’s slapping at metaphorical bees!

I just want to wish all my friends, family, clients and especially our troops – a very peaceful and prosperous, loving New Year.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2009 was a wonderful year and that 2010 will be even better!

I lamented last night, just before falling asleep, that I didn’t have a chance to write my “Decade in Review” before 2009 officially closed. I hope to get around to writing my little memoir sometime today.

Danny, Landon, and I stayed home last night because the little one has a touch of the cold. My parents came over for a couple hours, but none of us had the gusto to stay up until midnight. I didn’t mind at all because I needed the extra sleep.

We practiced playing the guitar on New Year's Eve.

Landon is a very active little boy. He’s mastered crawling, pulling himself up to stand against furniture, and even balances to stand without support for short amounts of time. I have a feeling he’ll be an early walker, which only means that Danny and I will have to chase after him even more! It’s amazing how quickly Landon gets around our place just by crawling. The pace of life will definitely pick up when Landon walks…and then runs. Oy.

Here’s my little musician on the piano.

As my family has gotten together at various points in the past, I have found myself not often looking forward to these gatherings.  In recent years, the thought of getting together has often caused feelings of anxiety.  I am not exactly sure when or how this began, but it has become the predominant thought.

Deep down I know we are truly blessed.  Both my wife’s parents and my parents are alive, in good health, and still living on their own in their own homes.  Considering my in-laws are in the mid-80’s and my parents in their early 70’s (my wife and I are 3-months apart in age – there is an entirely different story embedded in the age difference of our parents.  Maybe I’ll tell this at another time), that is pretty impressive.  Both sets of parents live within 15 minutes of us – as does my younger brother, his wife, and his two children.  Between my children and his, the oldest is nearly 13 and the youngest 4-1/2.

While the diverse range of age and experience is a blessing, it is also the key source of tension.  In my opinion, the expectations of the different generations creates a lot of the issues.  It would probably make for a fascinating study to observe how each of us handles the tension.  For my part, I tend to keep it all in.  Christmas dinner is always at my house, so I find I get tied up in food preparation, food serving, and dinner clean-up.  The main reason for this is to avoid the potential situations that I believe will come up.  Despite my best efforts though, someone always seem to suck me into some drama – but at least I can hold it off for a while.

But something different happened this year.  At last Thursday’s Christmas Eve Mass, the associate pastor at my church gave an excellent homily about how families tell stories during important gatherings.  He talked about how the stories of the Bible were passed down for many generations through word of mouth.  I have heard similar stories about this in the past, but his message has stuck with me this week.  As we gathered for dinner last Friday, I found myself relaxing a bit more and focusing more on listening.  There are some great stories to be told between my father-in-law who was in WWII down to my nearly teenage daughter who is just beginning to understand the value of family history and her contribution to the make-up of the family. 

While I have heard most of the stories before, I realize that is what makes getting together as a family important.  The only way the stories can get passed down and savored is in the telling and retelling of the stories.  The trick with stories is that you must have someone willing to listen.  The younger children in our group haven’t quite gotten to the point of telling stories, but their time is coming.  I honestly can’t wait to hear how they tell their stories.  I only hope the older ones amongst us give them their due when it is time to tell their stories.  The first step in making sure that happens is by making sure that each story-teller has listeners.  If we demonstrate that for them, then we set a new expectation that everyone deserves to be listened too.

So, as we gather for New Year’s and events throughout the coming year, I truly hope I can keep the message of my priest clearly in mind.  If I can, there is proof that important changes can come from the stories told by others.

There are many times in our lives where we feel rejected.  At any given moment there is some form of exclusion going on.  Anyone can feel slighted, rejected or excluded.  It happens with co-workers, friends, in social settings, and even at home.  The worst of all perhaps is the feeling of rejection within your own family.  These behaviors become most apparent during holidays or family gatherings and could be a cause for much stress around the gathering.  I have noticed when someone feels rejected, they may reject others to protect themselves from the potential hurt.  Then the downward spiral has begun and more people feel rejected and hurt. Sometimes the person or people doing the rejecting aren’t aware they are behaving in this exclusionary manner.  In my observations, the people behaving this way have some insecurities about their placement or importance in the family hierarchy.  Because they already feel sensitive about where they fit, they exclude stronger members of the family, or members they feel threatened by in some way. Unfortunately this sets the tone for a negative spiral in the family resulting in miscommunication, hurt feelings and huge family arguments, escalating to family members refusing to take part in any further gatherings.

In the perfect world there would be an easy solution.  Everyone would be more sensitive ensuring everyone was  included if they wished.  We would have unconditional love for ourselves and each other, accepting faults and loving each other anyway.  While I really do believe we are coming into the age of inclusiveness, we need more practical in the moment tools to use to prevent further damage in the family unit.

Some people have a gift of seeing what is going on at the moment it is happening and are able to deal with the problem before it becomes a problem.  Others like myself come away after an interaction feeling a bit off, it may take a few times to realize what is really bothering me and come up with a plan to deal with it.

The first step is to recognize there is a problem and what exactly the problem is and who it concerns.  Next, get your facts straight.  Don’t make the mistake of addressing the problem with he said she said, in other words what others have told you.  It is best to make a statement from what you have observed yourself.  Make sure you are centered within yourself, not in an angry or hurt state before you address the problem, if at all possible.  Use statements from your perspective and your feelings only.  Using statements with I feel or I felt takes finger-pointing out of the equation allowing the other party to own their part more easily.  It is far easier for anyone to adjust their behavior when they feel loved and supported.  Communication is always the key.  When people don’t communicate things fall apart fast.  When people do communicate with an open heart, respect and integrity the healing possibilities are endless and miracles happen.

As we heal on our journey and learn to love ourselves unconditionally this love will spread out in waves to everyone and there will no longer be rejection on any level.  This is the part of me that was healing over the last few months.  And the journey continues.

It’s over. Tonight was the last of the family gatherings.  As Man-Child and I left he compared his feelings about the evening to that of a foreign exchange student.  Feeling slightly-or hugely-disconnected one just smiles and nods with a knowing look.

It was one of those evenings. My niece, who is very smart and articulate- 12 years of age and sporting eyeliner and newly waxed eyebrows, talked about her future. She plans to marry a rich man and stay at home… no job for her, she wants to shop.  Her father, my brother, seems a tad overwhelmed with his life.

My other brother had the audacity to walk in while the rest of us were watching the TV Guide channel’s count down of the 10 sexiest men and women of 2009 and turn off the TV. We protested, the TV was restored and he vanished. Only to return later, as we watched the 50 sexiest men of the century ( I didn’t get to see what ranking Robert Redford achieved, but they had Kevin Bacon in the countdown-WTF?).  This time when he turned off the TV we just smiled blankly, foreignly, and listened. He gave us a lecture about the upcoming economic crisis and suggested we put all our money in gold or stable foreign stock markets!  Seriously. I was drinking a nice Pinot and kept the glass close at hand.  It was kinda creepy; he’s an IT man, not a stockbroker.  He spends hours reading the internet and has formed opinions on this matter. He also gave us each a book  with simple steps on how to avoid the impending doom.

My two sister-in-laws were quiet; as usual. I admit to not being terribly close to either of them.   The 15 year old niece, slouched in her seat, texted her boyfriend through out dinner.  The help was in the kitchen doing the dishes. I was drinking Pinot.. did I already say that? Joe has to work the on Monday so he begged off… i totally understood as he’d already endured a number of family functions over the weekend.

Man-child was on his best behavior. He proclaimed at one point that he was jobless, without a car,computer or good cell-phone,  broke and living with his mother… but in possession of some of the best weed available. That last bit he said loud enough for my ears only. I thought it was funny. When he left grandma’s, carrying a plate of leftover beef tenderloin, he commented that he always carried “good meat” but if anyone was amused they were hiding it.

We left as quickly after dessert as was politely possible.  And, now safeless ensconsced at home, I’m spilling the beans on my family and he’s… hmmm? Need one ask?

   I suppose i oughta get to writing. 

 in another day, it’ll be time to pack it up and drive home. 

 right now, home is pretty snowy and cold. 

It will be Another grueling 18 hour trip by car.  As usual, we all have more to take back with us than we came with.  

Papa has a calamansi tree and a small orange tree in which we have all been partaking of the sweet oranges coming from it.  I know that is  bad grammar, but great oranges! 

 how often do you have “fresh from the tree” oranges growing in your front yard?

 In stores,  concentrate to make calamansi  juice (a small, citrus about the size of a golf ball) 

 is around 2 bucks a can!  Like most citrus it is high in vitamin C. 

Big A is sick.  One of her tonsils is huge and the other isn’t.   lucky it’s not time to go back to school yet.   we have time to get her seen. 

 This whole vacation has taken up a lot of work days of mine so I will get a crappy check next payday.  I can’t take off more time, but I can have her seen now while we are here.  

The picture at the top of the blog comes from  a low lying part of the river at high tide on the navy base here.

  I had fun taking pictures but i never get to see what this river bank brags about having…manatees. 

 I saw one finally at Sea World in Florida I think in 2008.   but never here, where signs are posted about not messing with them if you see one. 

  Also,  didn’t like the fact that aligators could’ve been in that swampy water and I sure didn’t wanna see one of those on this trip! 

  And while we were visiting with more relatives tonight, which was awesome for me,  I have been discovering all those yummy girly drinks and sweet wines that I never really get to buy for myself and Doug.

  Why didn’t I ever know about Coconut rum  before?  hmmnn?  

 or  Bailey’s irish caramel creme?    gah!!  

 and there was more food and more laughter,  and pizza and chicken and kids running and squealing and laughing.   

 The same kids who grew up staggered in age as babies, are now talking about girlfriends and boyfriends and dating, as we, the parents are older, but never felt older until the kids started talking.   amazing.    

On Christmas Eve, we had a family gathering with my immediate family in Monticello.  My mom, sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew and I drove down to Monticello to have lunch with my older sister, brother-in-law, nephew, dad and stepmother at my sister’s house.  Despite the terrible weather, we made it down safe and sound.  The weather Christmas Eve was just really nasty (raining with some flooding).  We were a little late getting there but we waited around until the weather eased up a bit.

Our lunch consisted of steaks, baked potatoes, green bean bundles, creamed corn, salad and rolls.  George did a excellent job on grilling the steaks.  The rest of the food was great as well.  After lunch, we all sat around and visited with each other and the proceeded to open gifts.  Everyone seemed to received what they wanted.  Afterwards, we loaded back up and drove back to Sherwood where we had couple more gifts to open.

Christmas day was lazy here.  We all stayed at our homes for lunch.  I cooked a prime rib, creamed potatoes and asparagus in a brown sugar butter mixture topped with bacon.  The prime rib was cooked a little too long for my liking but it was all good just the same.  This was my first try with prime rib.  N0w I know not to cook it as long.

Mom and I drove over to Amber’s to see what all Santa left the kids around 2:30. Sarah received a electric guitar and John Patrick received a tot size drum set.  I feel sorry for the parents with those gifts!

I hope Christmas was great for you all!

Happy holidays, everyone! If you’re like me, you’re probably busy getting together with family. This can be a fun time or a maddening time. Keep your cool by remembering this:

Spend every last waking moment getting suitably neurotic about presents.  Check.  Wait in airport lines full of people who look like they can’t wait to get to their destination or can’t wait to break their collarbone, one of the two.  Check.  Resent well-meaning co-workers and holiday hostesses for pushing sugary treats on you and forcing you into the New Year’s resolution you most hate – that evil gym one.  Check.  Why is it that with all the good cheer and festivities of the holidays, most of us are swept with dread the minute the Thanksgiving turkey goes down our esophagus and the Christmas cheer simultaneously invades? Why is it we can’t wait to fast forward well into January when we finally get back to some semblance of normalcy? 

Well, instead of droning on year in and out let’s plan our exodus from the island of the mundane. My ideas below for escaping our isle of holiday monotony and heading to Funland far, far away:

#1.  Instead of presents this year, show a PPT presentation with Bono as the soundtrack as you click through slides of unfortunates.  As everyone’s face registers a vague look of, “Ok, where is this going?”, inform them all that this year you’ve decided to get them gift certificates to their favourite charity.

#2.  Before the PPT presentation, install a hidden camera to record the immediate looks of indignation and fear that slowly turn to fake gracious looks and “Hey, great ideas!” as they attempt to avoid looking like greedy wenches and warlocks.  Show their reactions to the charity gift idea later to further drive home the point of their greed and misprioritization.

#3.  Banish them to the Misguided Mistletoe for their Misanthropic Misappropriation of Funds and Love and make them list their top 3 favourite possessions to be doled out to the next 3 strangers they see.

#4.  Instead of bringing the usual predictable Christmas goodies to the family gathering, bring something totally unexpected and inappropriate like a Tofu Seaweed Casserole or peanut butter and jelly gingersnap cookie sandwiches. “What? I didn’t know!”

#5.  Similarly, nix the gaudy God-forsaken holiday sweaters or sweatshirts that should have been a sin to have ever been stitched and show up in disco garb, telling them that your spouse told you it was Disco Christmas!  Bring red and green jello shots to drive the 70’s theme home and get them drunk so you have more fodder for YouTube filming fun.

#6.  Anytime anyone tries to hug you, jump back and say, “Ma!  Don’t touch the heh, eh-reht?!”

#7. Refuse to wrap gifts in the traditional Christmas wrapping paper.  Instead, wrap the gifts in poopy baby diapers which already have sticky tape attached, explaining that your approach is two-fold: you wanted to both honor a Green Christmas and Baby Jesus this year.

#8.  Drive to the celebration in a rented horse and carriage but make the driver dress up as Santa and put reindeer antlers on the horses.  Bring a boom box and blast this.  Attract as much attention as possible from the neighbours.  Try to call Channel 4 before your arrival and leave an anonymous tip that you saw Santa and his reindeers at your parents address.

#9.  At the end of the meal, instead of helping to wash the dishes,  hurl them out the back door and exclaim with indignation, “The rats and raccoons deserve fine china too!” 

#10.  Pick a random city out of a hat and take a detour to that city instead.  Spend Christmas with a strange family in Anchorage, Alaska rather than at home.  Live stream your experience into the home of your real family so everyone can watch the celebration on video.

Even now, most red-blooded men wouldn't mind having Catherine Deneuve under their tree.

(IFC) Catherine Deneuve, Matthieu Amalric, Melvil Poupaud, Chiara Mastroianni, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Anne Consigny, Hippolyte Girardot, Emmanuelle Devos, Emile Berling, Laurent Capelluto. Directed by Arnaud Desplechin

Christmas is a time for families to gather, no matter the distance. Sometimes the distance isn’t just physical and geographical, it’s emotional as well.

Junon (Deneuve) and Abel (Roussillon) Vuillard are the parents of three adult children: Elizabeth (Consigny), a neurotic playwright, Henri (Amalric) the charming but destructive black sheep and Ivan (Poupaud), the peacemaker between the children. After a disastrous business venture five years prior, Henri who had misappropriated funds from the theater he co-owned was bailed out by Elizabeth on the condition that she never have anything to do with him again and that he be banished from any family event that she was also attending.

Junon and Abel also had a fourth child, Joseph, who would have been the eldest but had died in childhood of leukemia. Now, Junon has developed it and the children and grandchildren (including Paul (Berling), son of Elizabeth who has mental problems) are being tested for compatibility to donate bone marrow for a transfusion.

Because it is Christmas, the decision is for the children to come to the Paris home they grew up in and so they do, families in tow; Henri’s flamboyant girlfriend Faunia (Devos), Ivan’s beautiful wife Sylvia (Mastroianni), Elizabeth’s mathematician husband Claude (Girardot) and cousin Simon (Capelluto), a lovesick tortured artist (sounds like the name of a band to me).

Spending time in closed quarters begins to force the family to deal with the tensions and feelings that have been dormant due to distance. The family dynamics begin to distend, change and convulse under the weight of Junon’s illness, the always-present specter of Joseph hovering sorrowfully above the family table and the family politics that create enemies out of brother and sister.

I’m deliberately trying to reveal as little of the plot as I can. One of the things that works about the film is the little subplots and interrelationships that are only seen as threads of the tapestry, but in the final couple of scenes it’s as if the camera pulls back and the tapestry is finally seen as a whole.

None of these characters are perfect and few of them are even likable. Junon is not the best of mothers, playing favorites with her children but loving none of them as much as she loves herself. Deneuve is still radiantly beautiful at age 66 and as elegant as she has ever been. Her Junon seems an improbable match with the more gnome-like Abel, but there is a certain amount of affection between them.

Amalric is one of my favorite French actors today, and anyone who saw him in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is likely to agree (he also played the villain in Quantum of Solace and was one of the best things about it). His Henri is fully aware of his familial role as an absolute jerk and has embraced it, but not without cost. Few actors in France can hold their own with Deneuve but Amalric is one of them and he does here.

One of the more interesting asides of the movie is the casting of Mastroianni as Sylvia. If the name sounds familiar, it should be; she’s the daughter of Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni and…Catherine Deneuve. The facial resemblance to her mother is marked; I think the casting is meant to imply that Ivan married a girl who not only was much like his mother emotionally but also facially as well which is a little bit creepy but there is a certain delicious irony to it.

At times the squabbling and some of the family skeletons seem a little bit too forced and that takes away from the film’s realism. What I like about the movie is that the characters are very human and far from perfect; this is a family that has issues, a whole lot of them as a matter of fact. As I said earlier, some of the main characters aren’t even that likable but every last one of them is compelling. Other critics have said that they have uncovered further subtleties upon repeated viewing of the movie; I haven’t had a chance to do that yet but I suspect I’ll have the same reaction.

If you’re expecting a Hollywood feel-good family Christmas movie, you’re going to open up a big box of disappointment. If you want to feel good without being manipulated, this is going to be more your speed. I wound up with a warm, Christmas feeling that was so genuine that I didn’t let go of it for days. Christmas isn’t about the perfect family; it’s about the family we actually do have, warts and all. The Vuillards aren’t always lovable but there is love and it is real. That’s the Christmas we may not generally wish for but it’s the one we usually get and to be honest, the one we usually remember with the most fondness.

WHY RENT THIS: The themes of redemption and forgiveness are particularly heartwarming given the seasonal tale. Deneuve is captivating and still absolutely gorgeous.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: The squabbling and family dynamics sometimes seem a little bit more over the top than real.

FAMILY VALUES: Some sexuality, foul language and lots and lots of smoking – hey, they’re French.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Desplechin has been nominated for eight Cesar Awards (the French equivalent of the Oscar) and four Golden Palms (a prestigious award handed out at the Cannes Film Festival) but has yet to win either.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: The DVD and Blu-Ray are available as a part of the prestigious Criterion Collection. They contain a copy of Desplechin’s one hour documentary L’Aimee which is about the selling of his childhood home and directly prefaces the tone of A Christmas Tale. There is also a booklet containing an essay from critic Phillip Lopate about the film and its impact.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

TOMORROW: The Holly and The Quill continues.

The holiday season has different meanings for everyone. For some, it’s a time of baking, decorating, and shopping. For others, it’s a time of anxiety, depression, and stress. Many enjoy the family gatherings, gift giving, and parties. While others find those things burdensome, dreadful, and senseless. Some celebrate various religious holidays – Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa.

It’s important to know what and why YOU are celebrating? What’s it really all about? Are you following tradition because that’s what you’ve always done and everyone else is doing it? Are you going along because you are trying to meet others’ expectations?

Take a moment and really consider what the season means to YOU. Consider your beliefs. Think about your values and how your actions do/do not support your beliefs. Don’t just go through the motions without knowing why. Be true to yourself and mindful of what you are doing. Dig deeper within, move beyond traditions, and discover what and why YOU are celebrating.

The holiday buzz is in the air!  Lights are up all over town and traffic spills out of every mall parking lot.  Family gatherings are planned, travel arrangements have been made, and guest beds are ready.  Traditions are being upheld with childlike anticipation.  Last minute gifts are being bought and wrapped, and greeting cards are piling up onto kitchen counters.  Festive music streams into cars, homes, and shops.  Special dinners are prepared with love.  Attitudes have turned toward gratitude for all the blessings of the year as well as hope for the New Year to come.  Appreciation for loved ones is felt more deeply now….and the best of life is brought keenly into view.  May your halls be decked with beauty as you enjoy the wonders of the season!!