'Tis The Season

Okay- I give up. Stores have their Christmas stuff out by September, the radio stations started playing Christmas music on Thanksgiving. My new neighbors have their Christmas tree up.

I surrender.

Actually, I surrendered. I put my Christmas decorations up today. Normally, I don't until I've flipped the calendar page to December, but this year I decided to get into the spirit a little earlier. Part of it was that we are still moving junk out of the townhouse and our Christmas decorations were still there. They take up three really big boxes that won't fit in my car and can't be put into my husband's pickup unless he wants to stop every ten feet to retrieve the box lids. So, I borrowed my brother and his SUV and we went to retrieve the decorations (my husband was down the shore, at my in-laws, putting up their tree and their lights. What is this madness???)

I couldn't see the point of bringing the boxes here, sticking them in the attic, only to bring them down next weekend. So, I gritted my teeth and decorated today.

Okay, gritted my teeth is an exaggeration. Actually, I love Christmas. I love the season and the goofy songs and the sappy songs and the specials. I love it all even more now that I have kids of my own. So it wasn't all that much of a sacrifice to put everything up a little early this year. Now I just have to get my other half outside to put the lights up. In the cold.

Yep - winter has arrived a few weeks early. It was 70 degrees on Thanksgiving afternoon. Seventy frickin' degrees! Since we went to my mom's, which is literally right around the corner, the kids and I decided to walk.

It was a great Thanksgiving. My husband's parents, his brother, and his sister joined us. It was loud, but great. My brother, his wife, and my niece, all came later, so it grew noisier still. But it was a wonderful day all around.

However, while we were inside, first it rained. Then the temperature plummeted down into the forties. So the kids and I shivered our way home. Thank God it was only right around the corner. It was cold!

So it seems winter is here. Maybe that means we'll have a white Christmas. How great would that be? I love when it snows for Christmas - probably because a white Christmas is kind of a rarity here in NJ. But it's still a month away. Who knows?

I have just about finished my first edits for Eden's Pass. I'm so proud of this book. If I've ever written the book of my heart, this one's it. I'm so excited to see it come to fruition after so long. I have to write the cover blurb for it - so that's what's on tap for tomorrow. Then I'll look over the edits, make sure I caught what I was supposed to catch, and they'll go to my editor either Monday or Tuesday.

When that's done, it's time to go over my galleys for You Belong to Me. Hopefully, this is the last pass and then off it goes... woo hoo!

But for now, I'm feeling a little ick. Both kids are sick (again) and I think I might be starting with it. It never fails. One cough, one sneeze, and I am doomed. So, I'm going to go rest, pop CSI into the DVD player, and just sack out for now.