There is nothing visually beautiful about winter in our part of the country, so I might as well pick the winter photo that I like, right? No, the grass is now brown and the trees are almost bare. We have no blankets of snow here, no ice sculptures hanging from the porch roof. But it is 27 degrees this morning, and it IS December 1! That in itself is very unusual and is a nice gift as I head full-force into Christmas tasks...so I will take what I can get and give thanks.

(The kids just came in and wanted to know if they could have the day off from "school" because of the weather! Just because it's cold! Nice try, kiddos! I'll alert the bus drivers, okay?)

After our normal Friday school schedule is done, I will get to work on wrapping and packing the gifts we'll send to our "away" family...and that means the unpleasant chore of trying to time the trip to the post office so that I don't stand with boxes for two hours. As our part of town continues to experience a population and building boom, the wait has gotten longer in our previously sleepy little post office, one that was definitely not built for the throngs that now compete for the attention of the three sweet ladies that work there. Maybe I need to take them some cookies...