Hey, Barb.

Well, it's not exactly morning, as I promised it would be when I wrote. But I'm here...at the page...although not in much of a writing mood. I'm not exactly in a funk, but feeling somewhat listless...I ran a bunch of errands earlier: grocery shopping at Walmart, which included some Christmas shopping since the place was empty, then the post office to mail some things, then back home to make a ham for J's potluck lunch today. The ham actually came out beautifully, even if I do have several pounds left over for my own family. The woman at the meat counter assured me that the ham I was buying was the perfect size for 15 people, but I'm pretty sure this thing will end up feeding 30 by the time all is said and done. No problem...I'm going to make a ham/bean soup this afternoon and then I guess we have sandwiches to last us through the snowstorm we're expecting tonight :)

I was happy to read that you had such a good weekend. I texted you on Friday to see if you got to Boston ok - I was watching the storms and power outages that morning on the news and was afraid you would have had to cancel your trip or that you might have been caught in all the mess. What a sweetheart W is, with the flowers! Sounds like a perfect few days together with C and W.

I did get my house decorated in time for the party Saturday night. Friday night, I babysat six kids here (and I didn't even drink!) S&T had T's company party, so I had their two boys, JJ plus his friend B, my nephew and the girl across the street, JL. We got a big ole pizza from Costco and let them have the run of the house. I'm sure I've mentioned JL before - she and JJ have been BFF since JJ was born (she's one year older than he). The past few months they haven't seen each other much since she's in middle school now, but lately, like the last month, they have been inseparable again. I love her to death; she's truly like a daughter to me. She and I have always been close, I call her my "daughter in law" and she calls me her "other mom". We joke about when she and JJ get married, that sort of thing. Anyway, since she was the only girl here, she wanted to help me decorate instead of hang out with the boys. We had so much fun - hours on hours of weaving lights and bending garland to fit the staircase, arranging snow globes and table decor, and chatting up a storm the entire time. I don't know what we talked about - boys, school, her dad, her mom (they're divorced) and whatever else a 44 year old and a 12 year old have in common. I just had a blast with her, the boys running and screaming and jumping and shooting all around and above and under us, Christmas carols on the radio and a Christmas movie on the tv - it was crazy and awesome.

Saturday, I spent most of the day doing finishing touches, then spent a couple of hours at the nail salon for fills and a pedicure before going home to get ready. The party was great, as usual. It was our tenth year and we did notice we're all slowing down a little. There were far more water bottles being consumed this year than ever before! Since my house wasn't until 10:30, I only had two drinks before then - a pomegranate lemon drop (delish!) and an Oatmeal Cookie (lots of cream, Baileys, butterscotch - yummy). When I got here at 10:00 I kicked back one of my caramel martinis, which turned out not to be such a big hit. They were way too strong for most people (not me, of course) but the flavor was good. I had the perfect amount of food and drink, which was a first for most of us this year (it took us long enough to figure it out!) After my house, I had a couple of jello shots at CK's and a shot of Fireball (my new favorite alcohol) at the last house. That was it for my imbibing - at The 12 Drinks, no less! I do have to say, it was awesome to wake up Sunday without the killer hangover I expect and anticipate and prepare for every year. We hung out with T&S until 1:30am so I was dead tired the next day, but at least my head was intact. After we left the last house, T fired up the firepit and we sat around it, the four of us bundled up in big coats, snow on the ground around us, covering the trees...it was truly beautiful.

The charge is on, now, to finish Christmas shopping (still so much to do) and wrapping (haven't even started yet). KB and I are planning to go shopping Thursday (weather permitting) and J and I are going to go on Friday. CC offered to take my kids after school and for dinner so J and I could stay up in the city for dinner if we want to. Not sure yet what we'll do but the offer was nice. We had snow Saturday evening and all night, then it turned to ice. Temps have stayed well below 30 since; we had a late start yesterday but the roads were ok this morning. Tonight, however, we're supposed to get a huge snowfall and they're pretty much already calling it a snow day at school for tomorrow. That should last through Thursday and then clear up again by Friday, only the have more snow on the weekend. This may actually be the first white Christmas we've ever had here!

Nothing else going on here...JJ will be off restriction tomorrow morning if it snows tonight. He had to spend the whole day Sunday - our first snow - in the house and shopping with his Dad. Bummer for him, but it got the point across. We figured that was enough; we won't make him stay in the house when there's snow and no school. My Prozac doesn't cover that.

Happy Tuesday to you - hopefully you'll shorten your wait time a little with a snow day or two of your own out there.

Love you!

A

P.S. The pictures are of our decorating efforts in my formal living room .