tis the season...

...for torturing one's animal friends by taking silly pictures of them.



(I'm hoping he won't hold a grudge for too long. After all, like I told him, that wasn't nearly as bad as the hot dog costume the kids wanted me to buy him at Halloween.)

...for Secret Santa fun.



(It seems my Secret Santa has chosen to remain anonymous, so I hope he/she reads this. My Secret Santa sent an adorable little snowman card with an assortment of mini pieces of scrapbook paper and some stickers. I had to make sure to snap a quick photo before the boys got home, as I strongly suspect my little Collage Master Max will soon claim these for his own. But that's okay, because I know he'll make me a wonderful masterpiece! :) Thank you very much, Secret Santa--whoever you are!)

...for incredibly thoughtful gifts from incredibly thoughtful friends!



(Yep, just look what the postman brought me today! Nymeth sent me The Best of John Bellairs, and she knew I would just love it! I've been wanting to read The House With a Clock in Its Walls ever since I first read her awesome review. In fact, I inter-library loaned it, but while Annie read it, I didn't have a chance to before I had to return it. Oh, I'm so excited to dive right in! But I think we're going to make this a family read. :) Even though Annie's read the first one, she hasn't read the next two...so I think this is going to be a treat for all five of us! Thank you, thank you, thank you Nymeth! I absolute adore it!)

...for baking cookies. And baking cookies. And baking cookies.



(I totally stole this cute idea from my sweet friend Dawn. This is cookie type #5 for the season. Just a few more kinds to go, then we'll be set for neighborhood deliveries.)

...for getting really, really, really far behind on blog reading. I've made myself stay off the computer for the past few days, just trying to get things done around here. Still not ready for Christmas, and now I'm missing out on how everyone else is doing. :(
I hope to just blow everything else off one of these evenings soon, and just catch up with everyone. Hope when I do, I find you're all having a truly fabulous holiday season!

talented ladies...

If you don't already know that Nymeth is one of the sweetest people on the planet, then you apparently live in a cave. Either that, or you're not a book blogger and have never made her acquaintance. And if you do read her blog, you also already know she's one very talented person. (Seriously, is there anyone who can write a more insightful, intelligent, downright eloquent book review than she can? I think not.) But her talents don't stop there. Just look at these beautiful bookmarks she sent to Annie and I for Christmas. And these photos don't even do them justice...they are just so gorgeous!




I think it was Chris who said before that we need to convince her to open an Etsy shop, and he was so right! Thank you again, Nymeth! So very, very, very much! Annie and I couldn't treasure them more!

*****

And speaking of talented people, I never had a chance to mention how Annie did with NaNoWriMo this year. Well, my silly little girl was disappointed in herself, because she only made it to a little over 45,000 words (her goal was 50,000). But considering that she wrote 15,000+ words during the first week of November before our computer crashed, and then started all over on a brand new novel on November 14th and got to 45,000+ words on that one, I'd say she did way better than okay!

*****

And one final thing for the evening, I know I'm supposed to be cutting way down on challenges, but there's a few I just HAD to join. (Okay, I'm sort of doing several more "unofficially" too, but we really don't need to go there, now do we.) First, of course, there's Annie's What's In A Name 2 Challenge. And there's J.Kaye's Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge. And now Eva has gone and started a challenge that is IMPOSSIBLE for me to resist...The World Citizen Challenge.