Let The Holiday Season Begin ...

 

 

     Saturday night at my friend Pat's house ... just a bunch of girls that have worked together over the years. When you've know each other as long as we have, spending 7 hours together over good food and great drinks can lead to a lot of truth, laughter and tears. What a way to kick off the Season.

     BTW ,,, one of the greatest things about my new Nikon Cool Pix camera is it's rotating lens that lets you take the photo with you in it, In the first photo I held the camera ... we could see on the big screen when all of the faces were in it and Jo reached around from the other side and clicked the button, thus the silly close up. I love that photo.

     The last photo is my best friend Mary Lou ... she's moving to Las Vegas in a few weeks. I'm so glad she showed up on Saturday night but she got there to late to be in group photo. I'm sooooo going to miss her. Her family is like my family and she's taking them too : (

   There hasn't been much talk here at Rain, about Christmas yet this year ... there's a reason for that. Not only are my kids spread out across the country, I don't think I've even mentioned that Mandy moved to Georgia about a month ago. GEORGIA ... GEORGIA ... YES, GEORGIA! (Still a little in denial I suppose.) It looks like she won't be able to come home until after Christmas because of her job. (The new kid always has to work Christmas week, right?)

     Not only are the kids away ... my sister, niece and brother in law are for the first time in family history, going to North Carolina to have themselves a comfy, cozy, Christmas in a cabin in the woods ... what's up with that 40 something years later?

      So ... this holiday season is going to be so far removed from tradition that I haven't known what to say about it until now. Yesterday was my last day of work for the rest of the year, YAY, (you tend to save all of your vacation time for the slowest time of the year when you work on commission). I'm making plans to indulge myself in the company of my friends this year, since family will all be doing their own thing. I got an early start this past weekend and don't plan to stop until January 2nd.

 

   

    

     Earlier in the day on Saturday, I stopped by to pay a visit to another close friend. Karen, (1st photo) she was painting faces at the 100 ft Christmas Tree in Del Ray. Where else can you go to ice skate, play in the snow, pay a visit to Santa and shop for beautiful tropical flowers in the same place?

      Oh ... Betty, who says you can't have your cake and eat it too, lol. Yes ... it was near  85 degrees with blue skies here on Saturday too.

     Those of you planning to be surrounded by your family this Christmas ... make sure to slow down so you can enjoy every minute of it and remember that being in the presence of those that you love is the greatest gift of all. Heres a link for ideas on giving more by giving less, check it out.

      My choice for J-Link du jour was written by Mrs. Linklater and is called Chapter two. She reminds us that the banner ad issue with AOL is not over (and it's not).