We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, ... and a happy New Year! :)

I can't believe it is already the 11th of December. My friend Tricia and I went to Oklahoma City a few Saturdays ago and I was able to get a lot of our Christmas shopping out of the way. That makes it sound like a chore I dislike, which is not the case. I enjoy Christmas shopping, especially for the kids. And it felt good to make so much progress. Still have some to go, of course, but the kids are done.

One of my paper route customers was very sweet and baked us some muffins and bread. Very yummy! I would like to bake cookies for our friends this year. I've always had thoughts of doing that but have yet to make it happen. I feel a little more on top of things so far this year, though, so we'll see. As for Christmas cards, well, if those don't get out at least I have a different excuse this year. I do not have access to all of my addresses at the moment. I keep them on my Palm Pilot, but I let the batteries run out on it. Usually that's not a problem because everything is saved on the computer as well so I just download it back on. However, we got a new computer around last Christmas -- gee, has it been a year ago already?? -- and we never loaded the software onto it. And then, we packed up everything we own to move into this new house and have not yet unpacked the box with all our computer stuff in it. Thus, I am address-less. Crazy, isn't it? I think I'll keep a hard copy from now on!

My dad has been in the hospital for the past week and a half. Actually, he went home today. He went to the VA hospital the Monday before last to sign up for medical care in hopes of getting help for his knee (he needs knee replacement surgery). Well, while he was there, he mentioned that he'd been having shortness of breath so they did some chest x-rays and were surprised to find water in his lung! They immediately admitted him to the hospital and there he stayed. They were able to get the water out but are still not sure of the cause. At any rate, please keep him in your prayers.

What are your holiday plans?? We are going to Texas to visit with Greg's side of the family. I just got my paper route covered today so I'm pretty happy. I love my route but it's hard to find a sub, especially over holidays! My boss at my testing job is going to fill in for me. She did Thanksgiving, too. I am very grateful and I hope that it will not interfere with her holiday plans at all.

Earlier this week we got some snow and ice! Today it's mostly gone, but yesterday there were still some patches of snow and slick spots here and there. The base had delayed reporting on Tuesday so Greg was around to help with getting the kids ready. That was great; I could really get used to it! :) They are predicting a nice weekend but worse weather for next week -- freezing rain and sleet. I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't have to get out in it in the middle of the night!

The town of Waukomis has a tiny little park with very old rusty metal equipment (slide, broken swings, monkey bars) that they have decided to update. This was exciting news in itself! But here's the cool part: four different playground sets were chosen and the children of Waukomis got to vote on which one to purchase! The vote took place at a town council meeting Wednesday night and only the kids got to vote, no adults! There were probably about 20 kids there, give or take a few. The set that won was the one Susannah and Makaley voted for. Most people I heard state their preference had chosen that one, too, so maybe it was an easy decision. It was a cool experience and I'm glad our girls got to participate.

Well, I'd better post this. I have to make my posts long in case I don't get another one written for a while!