Merry Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas with lots of trips but we are home, home, home, even if it is the day after.

Please notice my new photo to your left there on the screen. The bowl was our Christmas gift to MIL and FIL, a large piece made by a local potter. We bought it at a local gallery. MIL applied her magic touch to it and sent me a great pic of it. I cropped the photo a tad and there it is on my blog.

DH has had a cold for a week. That didn't keep us from going to see dear MIL and FIL. The day after we returned, we spent a day at Big Mall in Nearby City. We love to go shopping as a family for 1 day at Christmastime, walking through the stores, looking at the decorations, people-watching, and buying last minute stocking stuffers. This is my favorite mall around here, offering Macy's, Sephora (aka heaven), Abercrombies, all the biggies. Quite the contrast to local small-town mall where the anchor stores used to be Belk's and Goodies, but alas, we couldn't even keep a Goodies up so it is now vacant. As you walk through the little mall, vacant storefronts alternate with filled ones. But I digress. On our Big Mall trip, LO spent time alternately with DH and me, so she could spend her hard-earned dog-sitting bucks on secret gifts for each of us.

Some people have the gift of selecting The Perfect Gift, and LO is one of those people. For me she purchased a delightful book on writing the novel. DH reported she purposefully drug him through the book store, declaring her intention for my gift. When they found the books for writers, they laid them side-by-side on the floor, perused them all, and returned them one-by-one to the shelf as they were ruled out. The one she gave me is perfect and I know I will enjoy reading it. For DH she bought a cordless razor. Perhaps she has tired of his rubbing his nubbly face on hers and laughing when she squeals at the roughness.

Alas, we found we needed to run to Target the next day, and the half-hour travel expanded to almost an hour in the ribbon of headlights down I-85. We knew what we needed, though, and made our selections in short accord. Our shopping took less time than the actual commute to the nearby town.

That takes us to Christmas Day. One of our relatives is a sweet young man who was deployed to Iraq and returned home to find no one waiting at the plane for him. In his absence his wife had taken up with another serviceman. Gee, don't people do things tastelessly? We traveled yesterday to spend Christmas Day with him and his precious little girls, who were visiting for the holiday.

So DH returns to work tonight after driving us out of town each and every day of his short time off. He still has a cold but has not yet run a fever.

I did not mention that all the trips were carefully timed so as to fit in between church, work, baking, and all the thousand things that had to be done. You have them in your holiday, too.

I am off to work this morning but will spend the afternoon in my continued efforts to Learn To Draw. The NY Times has a neat article on how light in the City provides opportunities for artists. I plan to print off one or two of the accompanying photos and give it a try.

LO was given a 'credit card' for Christmas, pre-loaded with $50. On Christmas Eve, she finished book 3 of the Twilight series, (thank you, Gramma and Grandpa) and just couldn't live without #4. With the book stores closed for the holiday, she resourcefully went to iTunes and bought the audio version with her little credit card. She spent the 5 hours in the car yesterday blissfully enjoying her "book." I hope she finishes it up today as she has two major projects due when she returns to school.

I am pleased to say we got mostly good, old fashioned gifts this year. I got drawing pencils and pens, books, and jewelry. DH commissioned an artist friend to do a picture of "The Writer." The framed drawing was one of my gifts. We have 2 of her works already; this one is the same style. It is delightful and certainly a gift to cherish.

DH got a new chinrest for his violin. His old one clipped to the side of the violin's end. He wanted a new one designed to clip to the exact end of the violin, directing his gaze straight up the neck. There are all sorts of chinrests out there -- it's a very complicated process to select one -- and his violin teacher advised me to pick a wood that matches the keys of his violin. So I picked a lovely rosewood one. The wood is smooth and satiny, and seemed to please him.

LO predictably got clothing and makeup. We had a ring made for her with her birthstone and white gold, which should never go out of style. Her first piece of grown up jewelry.

So that's the report. I hope you all had a meaningful and happy Christmas. I look forward to the New Year.