I've seen this: We're hanging our wreath on a brand new door but our thoughts and wishes are the same as before May your home be blessed with Christmas Joy, Peace, and Love It seems a bit hokey. Any other ideas? Many thanks in advance, lisa

I am so happy for you! The tree is really beautiful . . . and so tall! It was one of those "meant to be" moments, I think. Don't forget to let us see it all decorated, will you? We'll all celebrate it together one more time. My heart goes out to your DH. Both my husband & I have medical field backgrounds and I know how painful and dibilitating, bouts of kidney stones can be . . . and how insurance companies can quickly make your lives miserable, jumping through their hoops. I'll be keeping you both in my prayers that his recent surgery will do the trick and he'll be back to his old self soon. Wishing you a lovely, happy, healthy Christmas Season! Lynn

Belated Merry Christmas to all. Especially to Triciae, who was on my mind a lot this holiday and will be during future holidays. Dear Wonder Woman, I hope you are doing well, where ever you are. Thank you for showing me what courage and strength and kindness are. We drove down to the Bay Area for the holidays. Christmas Eve we had dinner with our good friends in Berkeley, raw oysters with mignonette, cracked crab, and the traditional Buche de Noel. Last night we had dinner with other good friends in Richmond, tenderloin, mashed potatoes and a warm cauliflower-brussel sprout salad. I made half of the tenderloin, cut pieces 1" thick and tied them into rounds, pan cooked, with a sauce of reduced white balsamic vinegar, Muscat wine, shallots and garlic, butter, sauteed mushroom stems, blended smooth, then simmered over whole mushroom caps. No recipe, just made it up. Our hostess roasted the rest of the tenderloin with a red wine and shallot reduction. We were supervised by a friend who is a head chef at a large hotel and, for the first time in many years, didn't have to work on Christmas day, but was nonetheless pressed into service which he did with good humour. I've been negotiating a stressful matter at work for the past few weeks. As of Dec 24, we were uncertain whether our little business unit would be shut down and I had prepared myself to be jobless come Jan 1st. That all got resolved satisfactorily at noon on Christmas Eve, final document review pending, so for the first time in a month, I was able to relax and unclench. It was nice.

Tami, I did not get the original or the corrected list! I just double checked and do not have it. Will you please re send? Thanks!