may your every wish come true...

Happy Holidays, as the old song goes. Merry Christmas to everyone!

I am not on strike. I haven't written because I have been working A LOT lately. I've had weekends off, but they've been busy, filled with events like concerts & ball games & shopping & driving & visiting & the usual cleaning & catching up on the laundry. I've had days off during the week, but I've had appointments & unexpected visits to the ER & the walk-in clinic those days. Work has been extremely busy.

Having said that, all is well. Derek has a cold but he's improving. Rachel is over her sinus infection. I have been healthy as a horse, praise God! I guess Randy's all right...he's not home much. He's been playing a lot. Tonight, though, he is playing cards with the guys. I am not going to talk about that. Mom is doing pretty well, considering what she's been through this year. The rest of my family is fine. One of my cousins was in a car accident this week, but she is doing pretty good. She is home & that's a good thing.

I am finished with my Christmas shopping & most of the baking but I haven't got everything wrapped. I haven't sent out Christmas cards either. I am sending Christmas cards for New Year's this year. Why? Well, between me & the photo company & the middle school, we dropped the ball. It's a long story, a chain of events.

1. I didn't have the extra money for pictures when the photo envelope came home. That was when we were in "the paycheck gap," when we had to make it two weeks on a week's pay.
2. I emailed the photo company to ask if we could order late. They said sure. I had to wait a few weeks, but I got it in around the middle of November.
3. I waited until this week to get worried about it. On Dec. 17, we got Rachel's pictures (which came from another photographer, but were ordered the same day).
4. I called the photo company on the 19th & sat on hold for 30 minutes. I left a voice mail containing my home & cell numbers.
5. The photo company called while I was gone (went to the post office, then did a lot of shopping, then picked up Rachel, went to Vandy to try out for the community chorus, got the call about my cousin's wreck, visited her, shopped some more, & finally, about 6:00, came home). They did not call me on the cell phone, just left a message at home.
6. I was too swamped at work to even think about returning the call Thursday, the last day of school for the semester.
7. I called Thursday night & left them another voice mail to call me at work.
8. They returned the call on Friday to tell me that they shipped the photos on Nov. 26. Of course, by then it was way too late to get them. For that matter, it was about too late to mail pictures, but I am going to do it anyway.

By golly, I paid $50 for those pictures, I am going to send them out.

Well, that's all I can write for today. I hope to get back on track in the next few weeks, but that's not my New Year's resolution. That would be: to be more ready for NEXT CHRISTMAS!

Only God knows how different my life may be by next Christmas. I sure couldn't have imagined the changes that have taken place since the last one.

I'll say it again: Merry Christmas!!!