the countdown is on...

• purchase presents.
  
• wrap presents.
  
• buy a few more little things for matt...
  
• bake for parties.
  
• bake for christmas eve.
  
• have caroling party. {got rained out... oh well, the games were just as fun.}
  
• holiday lunch and white elephant party at work.
  
• celebrate "Birthday Party for Jesus" with the kids.
  
• put together an angel costume to wear for the Bible lesson on sunday (that's said "Birthday Party").
  
• shop with mom & aunt jodee, saturday.

so i'm moving right along. the only place i'm struggling is with our christmas cards. i'm not really excited about sending them this year. i love the cards - simple and cute... i love the photo we chose to include... but there's something about signing them that's got me all worked up. not enough room (or strength of hand) to write what i really want to say... and yet, a short little greeting seems to terse. maybe the people that write holiday update letters have it all figured out...

my studio is a wreck, so much so that i've lost the only trim piece i need to finish the exterior of my dollhouse. pathetic, huh? i suspect a little feline with tendencies toward kleptomania is to blame, but i just can't find it. so i'm not posting any photos until it's finished. i guess i could just make a new one.

i've also been working through the christmas journal again this year, and i'm doing better with it so far (though i didn't even start until the 14th, for what it's worth). the secret to my success has been smaller pages, and allowing myself to vary. they'll all be ring-bound when the project is finished, but for now, they're loose in a page keeper. last year, i chose a 10x10 book, and it was just too much space to fill to do it each day (not to mention, two pages in one day if i missed an entry). i just don't have that kind of time anymore.

well, there's some monday rambling for you. maybe this week i'll get it together and have a dollhouse update. merry december 17th!