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Happiest of New Years to you, my friends. Here are a few of my memories from 2006. I will be by to see how your holidays were in the next few days. In the meantime, I am hoping you are having or have a Happy New Year!

And being merry.
Very Merry Merry (Thank you Dr. Seuss).

I'll be posting a proper post again before Christmas and be around to visit you all soon.

In the meantime, what have you been up to?

Today's post is dedicated to you, blogger friends. To those of you who send little gifts in the mail (most recently, "J", who has the best taste in music; so great that I put her playlist on my fridge, attached by the Christmassy magnets she sent to the boys). She also made me a beautiful pin, that I tried to take a nice photo of, but it didn't do it justice (there is one posted on flickr).

It is dedicated to all of you who write and post daily and weekly, and keep me upbeat and amused, who make me smile and sometimes cry.

It is dedicated to those of you who I e-mail with and who I share my deepest troubles to, who hold my hand when I need it to be held, and help to keep the glue in place.

It is dedicated to those of you who I can be creative with, who I can share my ideas with and you don't think that they are crazy. To Crag, who I am going to be a best-seller with. ;)

It is dedicated to those of you who post fun ideas that inspire me, tell me about books I want to buy, music you listen to, places you've been, dreams that you hold dear....we're sharing our lives in this small space in the universe. It's wonderful.

And finally, to those of you who post memes....like Vesper and Trundling, who posted a Christmas one:

Eggnog or Hot Chocolate?
Definitely hot chocolate. Egg nog is disgusting. It looks like snot.

Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
It depends if Santa is running behind schedule or not ;)

Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Definitely white lights on the tree and outdoors, anything goes.

Do you hang mistletoe?
God no. Mr. C would drive me crazy.

When do you put your decorations up?
Any time after Dec. 1. If they go up too early, I find that I am getting sick of them before Christmas is even here.

What is your favorite holiday dish?
OK super traditional response here, but I love turkey dinner and everything that goes with it. Especially homemade stuffing with summer savoury. And nanaimo squares. Mmmmmm

Favorite holiday memory as a child?
Going to church on Christmas Eve and then coming home afterwards and opening one gift before bed. My mother would fill the table with plates of treats and the fireplace would be glowing. Christmas Eve was always a scene from a magazine. It was (and remains) perfect.

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I was a hold-out believer. My sister broke it to me when I was in grade 3 (officially too old to still believe). But I still do believe, really.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
YES! Huge Christmas Eve tradition; new pajamas on Christmas Eve.

What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him?
Home made frosted sugar cookies. Same recipe since I was a kid (and my mother as well).

Snow! Love it or hate it?
Gotta love it for Christmas. By mid-January; hate it.

Can you ice skate?
Of course! I'm Canadian. My passport would be revoked if I couldn't!

Do you remember your favorite gift?
Not really. I remember an insect-making kit that I loved when I was in about grade 2 or 3 (seriously, folks; no joke). And I got a "ghetto blaster" when I was in grade 7 (that was a good year!); cross-country skis is a big one (grade 9 or 10 perhaps). And my beloved camera last year.

What's the most important thing about the holidays to you?
Family. Food. Having fun. Playing games. Relaxing. Reading. I could go on. I have a long list. Does that make me high maintenance? (Don't you dare comment, Mr. C!)

What is your favorite holiday dessert?
By the time dinner is over, I am usually stuffed. I like all the Christmas cookies. Pumpkin pie is great for Thanksgiving, but just give me cookies (and did I mention nanaimo squares?).

Favorite Holiday tradition?
Going to my mother's house on Christmas Eve.
And playing games over Christmas.

What tops your tree?
A star.

Which do you prefer: GIVING OR RECEIVING?
This question is easier to answer than I would have thought. Definitely giving. No hesitation.

What is your favorite Christmas Carol?
Silver Bells (is it a carol, though?...) and In a Bleak Midwinter (Me too, Trundling!)

Candy Canes?
Yuck. Taste like toothpaste. No thanks.

Well for once this post has nothing to do with the weather, although the title implies otherwise. I have been recently thinking about the things that I love and hate at the same time about Christmas. Although I am one to focus on the positive rather than the negative, thoughts of things that annoy me creep in. I guess you could say that my glass is half full, but I just don't know how clean the water in it is.

You don't need to read this if you are in a warm and fuzzy mood today. I am just getting a few things off my chest so I can go back to enjoying Bing again.

1. You spend time baking and baking and then one week before Christmas you need to start all over again because what you've baked is pretty much gone, save for the armless gingerbread men. From now on, I will no longer be a Christmas baking keener. I will save all my baking until the last minute.

2. Relatives that you never hear from the rest of the year come out of the woodwork and expect to receive gifts and cards and invitations for dinner. Guess what? I don't see you the other 364 days. I don't want to see you now either.

3. Those same relatives send ugly cards with no messages, just their names scrawled on the bottom. Since I haven't heard from you in a year, you'd think you'd have something to say to me. No, you just want me to send a card to you so you can fill up your mantle. Buy a box of cards and send them to yourself. Like Mr. Bean did.

4. The annual Christmas work lunch. We don't go out to lunch any other time. Shouldn't we be saving Christmas for the people we love to spend time with and for doing the things we love to do? Why do we put ourselves through this painfull event that no one wants to go to? I end up sitting between socially-retarded-get-drunk-at-lunch people.

5. This is the time of year, more than any other, when I feel guilty for having what I have and living where I live. I am torn between wanting to turn my head away from the images of starving babies and stopping Christmas altogether and going to Darfur with the money I've spent on my over-indulgent Christmas. When my children are old enough, we will spend Christmas in a developing country. So that they can get the true meaning of sharing love and compassion, wealth and prosperity. So that they may understand that giving really is better than receiving. And that those we need to give to are not greedy cousin X, but the starving child in a refugee camp.

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On Monday afternoon we had a terrible and unexpected snowstorm blow through, leaving many people stranded and Mr. C and the babe not getting home until almost 8 o'clock at night. By Tuesday morning, the sun was shining and the snowman was bowing to us from the backyard, while this litle fellow chippered away at the seeds I had tossed outside. The irony of the storm, given the work I was doing that day, well...leave it at that.

The snow has since melted and now we await another snow later today. So much for a nice evening out.

The week has been full, as more and more concerts and preparations for Christmas are underway. I am trying to cram in as much writing and research as I can before I take a complete break from it all. I was supposed to attend a meeting tomorrow (yes, Saturday) but I bowed out, giving an excuse. Because when it comes right down to it, my family is more important than listening to reseachers blab about the significance of cattle urination and defecation on plant decay rates. Don't you think?
This lovely mug and coffee (delicious, I might add!) couldn't have come at a better time. I picked the package up from the mailbox just before the storm on Monday began. How appropriate! Your package might have been an omen, Connie.

While others in Halifax are going to see productions of Oliver and The Nutcracker, we went to see Franklin, as in the Turtle.

It was quite fun, as far as a concerts for toddlers goes. The babe sat on Mr.C's lap the entire time; enthralled. This may be the first and last time he sits still for over an hour.

Have a great week, friends.

Huge hugs!

" The" Chapter was successfully sent off at the end of the week, and now the publisher has said to forge ahead. So there will be another busy (but good busy) week ahead. In the in-between bits of my life, I have been trying to keep up the craftiness, which now includes making bookmarks (the one shown was illustrated by the very talented fb).

I have been spending a lot of time looking at these sites for inspiration and there is plenty to be had: what a talented group of women they all are. We are off to a Christmas play this afternoon. I can't wait to tell you all about it. I hope I will be able to take photos!