This is little off subject I think but Joan talking about making things with toilet paper rolls & oatmeal boxes made me think of all the fun I had making forts, school houses, or a fine house- all out of the refrigerator or appliance cartons. The ones we got were around a new appliance & had wood frame & heavy cardboard or maybe even lightweight paneling with reinforced corners. They did well in summer rains(I added some kind of roof) & in winter dad had gotten 1 for me to retreat to in the basement. I put 3-4 of them together on a vacant lot & "taught" school, played house with other neighborhood kids or fought off cowboys or Indians as we often changed which ones we wanted to to be. There was a tree on the lot, so we could escape the fort & go up in the tree & be lookouts, of course the lake was right below so we had to watch"on land & sea" it was quite a job & we were very serious about it. Too bad I didn't have my camera yet! I was shy but always road after the appliance truck & asked if I could have the crate, I think we ended up with 4 on the lot, they were very heavy but delivered right to spot I wanted.So disappointed when torn down & new house went up in there. Dad really started something fun by bringing that 1st 1 home tho. Jan

From e-mails and posts, it sounds like Secret Santa has a great many presents in transit. Yahoo! Keep posting when you receive yours! :o) Being the head Secret Santa, it seems like it's the North Pole here!!!! We've had freezing temperatures. (One night this week it got down to minus 15 degrees here. BRRRRR!) Then, a MAJOR snow storm hit us. We have 3 feet of snow on our deck now...most of which came non-stop yesterday and last night! I just spent 3 hours plowing us out, and IT'S STILL SNOWING! It's so pretty though out here in the woods. All of the schools have been cancelled so I have the day off from teaching. It's a bummer though as we had to cancel our Christmas concert last night, and our class party is tomorrow, the last day before break. Many roads have been shut down as well. IT'S THE NORTH POLE! Ho Ho Ho! I'll attach a picture looking out our deck doors just now. I'll also attach a link to the deep snow we got in January (for those of you who didn't see my post back then) which kept us out of school for a week! Bear Hugs! Kirk Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Snow in January

I lived in Massachusetts for my first 10 years then Illinois for the next 15. I came to California 31 years ago. Out of all the places I have lived I would say I like this the best. I like the weather most of the time and there is quite a variety geographically. We have beaches 5 miles away, ancient redwood forests within walking distance, we live in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mts. so have great views of valleys and even the ocean. I can drive to the mountains in a few hours if I want to play in the snow or to the desert if I want heat. I have lived close to the CA coast for 22 years and enjoy the Mediterranean climate. I can garden all year long and have fresh veggies, flowers and fruit. We are north enough to have some seasonal changes, but don't usually get the extremes in heat or cold. Though in the last couple of years I have been noticing some changes in the weather pattern. Everything you could want is close by, great 5 star restaurants, big shopping malls, historical sites; Santa Cruz, San Jose and San Francisco museums, symphonies, theaters. We get lots of big name entertainers. You could go 24/7 for a week and never repeat anything if you wanted. I don't miss the very cold snowy winters or hot humid summers of the East Coast or Midwest. Occasionally I get nostalgic for the Autumn changes that you get in New England. And I miss the fresh clams and fresh picked blueberries. The only other place I would want to live is Hawaii. Clare

Well of course there's those who want to believe and those who want to try to make something out of fun that simply isn't so. If I saw children who were so traumatized that they would distrust their parents over Santa Claus, then those are clearly incompentent parents and should not have children in their custody. Clearly there's a lot more reasons why those children distrust the parents and I dare not even ask what they're doing to those poor kids. We grew up without a lot of the Santa hoopla. But there was "Santa". We all figured it out at an unusually young age. Maybe the hints? Maybe we were smarter or more able to analyze things? Maybe dumb luck? I don't know and I don't care. We were raised with more of the spirit and meaning of the holidays than on the giftwrap. But like mashed potatoes and gravy, Christmas and presents were part of it. My mother died at an early age. The last couple weeks of her life, two cousins, both LPNs stayed with my parents to help out. I knew my mother appreciated this since it enabled her to be at home when she died. I knew I had to do something special that year. Didn't take long to figure out a present for each of them. One enjoyed photography and used instamatics all her life. Easy choice, eh? Yep a camera. The other just got a new car and had just an AM radio. A car stereo. So they were wrapped up and the tag said who it was from. Need I say? Santa. They were both kind of mystified why I was giving them a present and saying Santa until I asked them you DO know who Santa is, don't you? One blurted out YOU! and all of a sudden the other's jaw dropped and a tear came to her eye and said "I know who she is". I've done a lot of things in my life for which I'm proud, but this one rates up there toward the top. I know I brought true JOY in this world, but this I'm sure brought a lot of happiness in another world if there truly is one. So whether you believe in other worlds, Santa, "good" and "bad" vibes, karma or whatever, it's the spirit in the person that matters. So whether you want to traumatize your kids or celebrate with them, here's hoping every good person here has a happy Christmas (yes even if you don't believe in Christmas) and a healthy and prosperous new year. Gledelig Jul! BTW, Joyful, since you Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving about a month before we do in the States, have you already celebrated Christmas??? One other thing I've often wondered... for the people who are so "honest"... do they also tell their kids that Christmas is about retail greed and refuse to accept any presents, cookies and goodies or the Christmas dinner? Just kind of curious. :D