Christmas is coming!

Now that i'm feeling better I noticed that we are approaching mid-December! Since all our family lives so far away I've got to get presents wrapped and sent off. Oh the travails of dealing with the post-office/fedex/ups! My birth family lives in Canada and I was dismayed to discover that postal service packages tend to disappear if not insured! After a couple of instances I now will only send packages via UPS as they are extremely reliable and fast. Packages to Washington or Arizona aren't as time critical but the system does get overloaded so best to get them out earlier.

We are currently in the process of redecorating our living room and what a delightful mess it is! I'm so looking forward to the end result but getting there is a lot of work! New fixtures, paint and floor coverings are top priority but all take quite a bit of prep work so don't happen as quickly as I'd like. I must remember to enjoy the process.....

The cats are bewildered. Where is that carpet that they lovingly sharpened their claws on? Why has the order of the furniture changed and what happened to that lovely dark corner they could hide in... Scamp, being a bit older, was completely unaffected by any of the goings on until he couldn't get into "his" chair for his afternoon nap. It was covered with "stuff" and pushed aside. Scamp examined and prowled around for quite a while until he was satisfied that his usual nest was unavailable. Of course we have a bed, futon and rocking chair in other rooms for him to rest on but it really wasn't the same. After dinner, when some order had been established, he settled into his chair with immense relief and slept until bedtime.

The winds have died down and we have been left with clear skies and low humidity. The forecast for next week is extremely cold so I want to spend some time outside before it hits. No decorating left to do out there as we got the lights up after Thanksgiving. We drove around a bit last night and it seemed to me that there weren't quite as many big displays as we have had in the past. Perhaps there is belt-tightening going on in our neighborhood.