Sparkly

It's been an absolutely rapid-fire year. A better one than last year, to be sure; thank the heavens, January's standard did not hold true.

But in true rapid-fire fashion, December is almost over before I even fully realized it was here. With a couple of exceptions, my holiday spirit held out and I did manage to execute some of my plans:

- At this writing, I'm only short one gift, and only purchased two today. Some of the rest were even wrapped a few days ago.
- I turned my work cubicle adorably festive, and even got photos and video; that's to come this weekend, when I can really breathe.
- There was good partying, and plenty of housecleaning (which, yep, isn't quite done yet).
- Bryan put up a cute little display in the front of the house, sparkly and just colorful enough.

Tonight, we finish clean-up and start prep; tomorrow, our folks (and a couple of my mom's friends) join us for a Real American Holiday Dinner, which we didn't so much have at Thanksgiving. Bryan is smoking a turkey and a pork loin in his brand-new Meat Master 3000 (his gift to himself); my mom is doing her fabulous cornbread dressing and broccoli rice casserole; I'm in charge of green bean casserole (LOVE), deviled eggs (LOVE MORE), dessert, and Other Stuff.

It's a far cry from last year, for sure. And OK, I didn't quite achieve relaxed and organized - more like stressed but not crazy, and there's certainly a good bit of happy here, too. We'll put that in the Win column.

The best part, after good family time and food: after Friday (which promises to be VERY quiet), I'm off work for the last week of the year. No, wait, even better: I'll be really close to prepared for New Year's festivities, happening at our place again. Yay, my favorite holiday!

For now, the kitchen is calling. If you're celebrating Christmas, I hope it's a very merry one filled with everything you love. If you're not...I hope tomorrow is a very happy day filled with everything you love. Heck, I hope that all the time. :)

Wishing everyone everywhere love and light from me, Bryan, Pandora, and Snoopy. See you soon!