Wishing everyone better health, more peace and much happiness in 2012.

My holiday was Ok, but my mom got crabby in the evening. My sister joined my mom & I for dinner, which was roast beef with veggies. A tense moment was when my mom fell off a stool in the early afternoon, she wasn't hurt, but the experience jarred her. She was trying to reach a pan in the cupboards over the stove. It's too high for me to reach & I suggested she use another pan, as there are plenty to choose from, why did it need to be that particular one? I don't know why she thinks she can still climb around like that, especially considering how accident prone she was when younger.
I got some nice presents, including the latest CD by Coldplay. The gift my sister liked best was a book she's wanted for years on a fantasy artist. I found it on ebay at a much lower price than at Barnes & Noble, where she originally saw it. The book is about James Christensen, whose work you can see at his website James Christensen Scroll down to see an array of his unusual & appealing paintings.
It was chilly & windy on Christmas day and the sun was out for much of the day, leading to dramatic skies when the clouds moved in towards evening. Definitely not northern winter weather. I saw on the news that they had a snowstorm out west, too bad a tiny bit of that snow couldn't have moved east. Since then it's gotten colder & often snows at night, dusting the ground & freezing the puddles.

     Dora and I wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas!

I feel a bit overwhelmed at all I have to do preparing for Christmas. I'm working on my cards, though i just bought them the other day. I also got some address labels, which I thought would be easier than writing out all the envelopes, but formatting the labels is proving more work than expected. Ok, it's not as hard on my arthritic hands, but it may actually take more time. i know it will be faster next year, but that doesn't help this year.
Some of the gifts have been bought, though I'm at a loss as to what to buy my mother. She had gotten easier for a few years, but the last 6 months or so, she's stopped doing needlework, rug hooking & jigsaw puzzles, which was providing gift ideas as well as things for her to do. She keeps saying she will return to those pasttimes, but hasn't in many months, so I'm not sure if I ought to buy more or not. The only definite thing is a nice box of candy, but I get that every year, so it's not much of a surprise.
I'd like to get the Christmas tree started within the next few days. I've spent today clearing out the place for it in the living room, it's amazing how much stuff I can stack up in that corner all year! There's less stuff than usual this year, too.
My last craft show of the year, Christmas in the Barn, was last Saturday, Dec. 3rd. It was a good one and I will write a post about it when I download the newest photos from my camera.
The show left me completely exhausted & that's why I've not been able to get started on the seasonal duties, I've had no energy. There's still a couple of display items left in the car that I've not put away yet. Though I suppose there's no real hurry on them.
My 2 favorite actors(Pierce Brosnan, Ralph Fiennes) have been on Tv a lot this week promoting each of their movies. That's forced me to stay up late several nights, which added to my tiredness, though it was for a good cause.
Anyways, I wanted to explain my absence & promise better posts in the future, hopefully within a week or two. Maybe by then, the tree will even be up? lol