DH & I don't exchange gifts either, but DS gave us both wonderful gifts. This is one of mine. After 40 years without music (I recently received a cochlear implant), DS gave me an MP3 player that can be hooked up directly to my implant's processor. He took the time to download tons of songs that I remember from the late 60s & early 70s. Some of them I can't understand, but the ones I do - it's magical. DS got the idea when he heard me listening to the song by DeeDee99's DH here on GW. We know another couple that exchange only stockings. They put Scrabble letters in a hat & each pull one, but keep their letter secret. The stocking they make for their spouse must contain only things that begin with that letter. Merry Christmas everyone.

I'm quite excited about meeting you all on Saturday. I spent today in the dirt -- literally -- after three cubic yards of good soil was dumped on my driveway this morning. One wheelbarrow at a time ... I'm working hard at setting up the garden area this year, doing what some call "hardscape." A month ago, the yard was dying grass with weeds and clumps of hard grass. Now, its the sort of mess that signals progress, I hope. In 2.5 weeks all the trees will be cut down. They're diseased and ugly. My husband built a fence around the small front yard to keep out bear/deer/neighbors. It is solid and private, creating a "secret garden." The fence encloses an asymmetric and oddly-shaped space which has had to be terraced because of the slope of the land. In this space I have started to carve out flower beds where ugly grass once tried to grow. Like the property, the beds are irregular and fluid in shape looking something like beans or teardrops. It occurred to me, today, that gardening is a process, not a goal; perhaps both. Still, I have garden goals. Simple goals. My first goal is to sip my morning tea on a sunken, old lawn chair while staring at flowers which will -- God willing -- climb up and cover the fence as well as crawl all over the ground. My second goal is to love the process of gardening, not just the goal. I'll sign off and take pics. Janni

Many times I don't come up with the right tone in voice/writing to express myself, and I can be easily misunderstood. I always need an editor, and I have lots here! Thank you all so much for "editing" the wording/potential interpretation. It helped enormously! DH was estranged from his kids for quite a few years, and all three of them suddenly mellowed a couple of years ago. They established a good, stable relationship and I want to continue that. Especially after the kids lost both their parents in 14 months, so I'm kinda sorta all they have left - scary thought :-) So, if they want to camp out, fine. They now know the rules (they absolutely, positively know what behavior their father would accept and what he would go ballistic about). They agreed that they are responsible for "their" guests. If it turns into mayhem and chaos, I have a stash of wine in the basement, I will sit with a glass in my hand, eat popcorn, and watch them clean it up, fix it up, or pay for it. I'm really looking forward to this celebration, and I'm not stressing at all anymore. Probably because I am the best (or is it the worst?) procrastinator in the ENTIRE universe, and I've started working on this early enough to think through the process. I can't tell you how much help you all have been!

I am not proud to say that I've eaten most of the leftovers all by myself :-( I've received several emails from guests thanking me for the event, so that's nice. The cook-ahead workflow was very helpful. As were all of your ideas and encouragement. Thanks everyone! Headed off on vacation tomorrow. Going to spend a week in a Tahoe lakeside cabin with some good friends. We have a physicist, an accordion player, a Chinese guy who cooks, a standup comedian, a person who does hair and makeup for TV, etc. SWMBO and I are driving down with four kayaks (two folding), a bicycle, and a coffeemaker. The plan is to lounge, cook, eat and paddle for a week. I'll get up early and work in the mornings as usual, I'm bringing two laptops and a monitor to set up my work area. Then I'll quit work before lunchtime. I remember we spent two weeks in an apartment in Paris one fall. There I worked from about 5 pm to midnight every day. That was kind of disruptive to vacationing. But a few hours of work each morning is no problem! Especially when the lake is just 40 feet away. If we cook anything cool, I'll post a pic.