It's the happ, happiest time of the year . . .

This December has been the busiest that I ever recall, and while I'm enjoying (almost) every moment of it, I wish it would slow down just a little bit, rather than buzzing by. The best news is that the third mammogram and ultrasound of the "suspicious area" in my left breast shows that there isn't any significant change so I don't have to go back for a year - yay!!
On December 6, my friend Carla took her mother, sister and niece, and my mother, my girls and I to see Trans Siberian Orchestra as our Christmas gift from her - it was an amazing show. We went to dinner beforehand and then to the concert. We were blown away by the sheer talent of the group. I would encourage anyone to see them.
Our office Christmas party was last Saturday and was great fun. We went to a restaurant called Doc Henderson's. It's in a huge, renovated brick home in a small, neighboring town which housed the medical practice of Doc Henderson, a civil war surgeon. Great food and, seeing how we all get along especially well in our office, great company, making for a fun evening.
Yesterday, Lindsay and I traveled to Cincinnati for lunch at the home of author Dianne Castell (photo above). There were 14 of us there - Dianne, her daughter Ann Marie, LuAnn McLane, Lori Foster, Toni Blake, Rosemary Laurey, Shiloh Walker, Jill ??, Barnes & Noble Mgr. Linda Keller, B. Dalton Mgr. Chris Slaughter, fellow readers Judy Flohr and Carolyn Dietsch, Lindsay and I, and even more great food and desserts. After the two hour drive home, we headed for the high school for Kelsey's concert band Christmas concert. It features the Jazz Band and the Concert Band and is always outstanding. These kids work so hard to put this show together, and it shows.
Next Wednesday I'm having a Christmas party at my home for about nine of us who work together or used to work together. We've been doing dinner and a gift exchange for about 25 years - I love these kinds of traditions! I'll be cleaning like a mad woman to get ready for it, my house is such a sty right now. I've been doing so much baking and candy making that cleaning has been put not on the back burner, but completely out of the room!
We have an ornament exchange/lunch at work on the 22nd, another long-standing tradition, and then my family and my brother's family will be getting together on the 23rd to celebrate. Christmas Eve will be spent with Tim's family and then we're home all day on Christmas Day with my mom joining us.
On top of all of that, we've been fostering two kittens for the Humane Society that we rescued from our parking lot at work - this makes four that my friend and I have rescued this fall/winter. One of the others we found a home for and Carla took another one. I'll be keeping one of these two - a little girl who appears to be the runt of the litter, that I've aptly named "Lottie" - the little boy - named "Parker" will be going to the Humane Society for adoption in the next week or two. It will be so hard to give him up, he's cute as can be, pudgy and stout like a little bear cub. Anyone want or need a little kitty, very light gray with blue/green eyes? He's a very handsome lad. There is another little one that we are still trying to catch, but he's proven himself to be pretty savvy at eluding us!
If you've stuck with me and read to this point, you'll be relieved to know that I'm closing now - with nothing but the most sincere wishes for the merriest Christmas ever for everyone. Please be careful if you're traveling this holiday season. God bless you, one and all.
Hugs and more hugs,
Laurie

A good trade

My boss sent me this the other day - it's kind of cute so I thought I'd share. I'm obviously way behind on reviews, and hope to remedy that with one for Janice Maynard's upcoming release, Play With Me, in the next several days.

Now on to the funny:
For all of us who are married, were married, wish you were married, or wish you weren't married, this is something to smile about the next time you see a bottle of wine:
Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road.
As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like A ride.
With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car.
Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally.
"What in bag?" asked the old woman.
Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, "It's a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband."
The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two.
Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said:

"Good trade....."

The perfect excuse

Do you have a holiday invitation you'd like to blow off, but aren't quite sure how to go about it? Go to the link below, type in a little information about the event, the host/hostess and yourself, and you'll be given the perfect excuse! Silly fun for the holidays, just takes a minute - check it out!

http://holiday.enlighten.com/

Have a great weekend - and as always, please be careful if you're out and about!

Laurie
xo

A TOUCHING EMAIL

I received an email (below) from a soldier in Iraq today. He was the recipient of some of the boxes I shipped from the troop holiday project. His appreciation is very moving, and hope that all of you will get the same satisfaction from reading it that I did.

Thank you again to everyone who donated money or tangible items, or donated books/author goodies for the raffle. I held back more money than was necessary for shipping in November, so I will be doing more shopping and shipping. Unfortunately, it will have to wait until after the holidays because my December is incredibly busy.

I would like to point out, however, that there was a misunderstanding from my letter to Brady; I at no time represented myself to be an author (you'll understand once you read his letter).

God bless,
Laurie


Ms. Damron,
Thank you so much for the packages. When I signed up for this program I listed that I had 6 soldiers. You sent enough stuff for our entire detachment (41). WOW!!! I wish you could have seen the soldiers faces light up when I handed out the stuff. Mail is so important and your boxes really did mean so much. I wish I had the ability to put into words how much what you did means to the soldiers but alas I am not an author (as you and your friends are). All of your items will go to use. And, please know, that NO you didn't brighten someone's day... you brightened 41 soldiers day!
Very respectfully,
Brady J. Sikorski
SGT Brady J. Sikorski