Woody, thanks for the final installment, what fun. Rex is all about "having fun", he'll do ANYTHING you want him to do if you're able to make it fun. Sometimes I don't initially feel like making it fun but his generally optimistic outlook on things tends to be contagious. I heartily approve of toys that require little kids to think and use their imaginations. While electronic gizmos have their place and can be useful I don't think there's any substitute for good, old-fashioned, self-generated creative play. The kind that doesn't require batteries, electricity, or another expensive add-on purchase!

Thought I'd bring this one up to update...looks like I will be alone for T-Giving after all...mom's come down with a bad cold and feels rotten,doesn't want the family to catch it...Niece cancelled out because of unexpected company and my brother's not coming back because I am on call on friday for work and he wouldn't have anything to do since he can't be at moms. Gloom?...Despair?...nope, but on the sad side,I do think I sprained my wrist doing a few backflips. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!! I hope you enjoy one of the few holidays that isn't overly commercialized.

Cynic great post! Especially the part about the set up photos with the silly backdrops or props. (I feel the same way about baby pics BTW). Give me people who look like themselves any day. I don't send Christmas cards any longer so we only get a few. The photo cards are printed on such cheap stock that they tear while being removed from the envelope. I do save and enjoy the nice old fashioned cards I get. The rest hit the shredder. Worst Xmas card award goes to a relative of DH. He prints out a mass sermon. Just like those long winded mass Xmas letters that some people send out only it's s a sermon. At the end there is a line or 2 about what he is doing and how the sermon he wrote applies to him. LOL If he were a man of the cloth I "might" understand but basically he's what I would call a fanatic. If I want to hear a sermon I'll go to church thank you. We LOL, shake our heads and SHRED!

Carol - you probably DID thank me in some other thread and I missed it. So please don't feel bad! I just was beginning to worry that you really WERE part of some dark conspiracy to withhold mail from you! I only got out 2 valentines this year -- my stepmother's fall and hospitalization and my trip up north happened right when I would have sent them out. But I had sent yours early because I knew what a debacle Christmas was! So you & my sister got valentines. That's it!