OH, Tracy! That is SO SWEET!!! Thank you! I've been cookin' up a storm! Enough complaining about making all the fudge for that vendor, as Dave called and told me that someone up there wanted to order 3 pounds of it from me!!! Yippee! So, had to make more fudge, plus that which my hubby wants to put in the "care packages" that we are giving to all the families on my side. And cookies... I had to run the fudge up to Des Moines today, but I had alterior motives for offering to do that - I wanted to badly to go to Michaels and get William some good art stuff. He is such a drawer! I got him a good sketch book, a set of oil pastels, a set of chalk pastels, and some good pencils and an artist eraser. It was all on the cheaper side - each of the pastel sets was $4.99 - no biggy compared to the sets I saw that were upwards of $80!! Anyway, last year I got him one of the cheap artist kid sets, and he has loved that thing! So, this year we decided to get him some "real" artist things. I still want to get some charcoal pencils for him, as I forgot to get those today - Lily was a bit distracting. Oh, and then I got Elizabeth one of the art sets that I got William last year, because she was so envious of that! She'll love it! I am getting so frustrated on waiting on packages!!! I waited until the last minute, but paid the crazy prices people wanted to get it shipped Priority, and figured if it was sent on Monday or Tuesday, I should get it in time! Only one of the 5 packages has made it yet! Then, the stuff I ordered from Amazon for my nieces and nephews - one of the boxes arrived as planned today, but there was one box that was supposed to arrive yesterday, and was in Indianapolis as of this morning. Later today is said leaving Des Moines and out for delivery. So, I watched and watched and watched - finally I looked again around 7 this evening, and it said "Checked back into Des Moines due to external prolems" I'm like, WHAT???? Ugh! Anyway, hopefully it will get here tomorrow or Monday!!! It has the stuff for all my nephews!! Would you believe I have 7 neices and nephews, and not one is over the age of 3??!! Crazy, huh? And here I am with my oldest being 14, and even having stepsons 22 and 23 (or something like that - my brain's not all here this evening!) Anyway, I am hoping my packages arrive, as they are ALL the video games I ordered for my boys!!! If not, I'll be having to go out and buy them new! Oh, then today I got an email with some really good deals for Lily at Amazon, plus William mentioned on other Bionicle he wanted (and I wanted to get, as all the other stuff he put on his list were video games) - but of course to get it shipped now for Chirstmas is $26!! So, we decided to order the goodies, and save the ones for Lily and put a note in William's stocking, saying that he has one more gift coming that's a surprise. That will keep him suspenceful! Okay, the boys have to be asleep by now, so it's safe to go down and get their stuff! Oh, Tracy, the supper sounds so nice! I'm happy you and Ed got to go out!!! My kids have that habit of trying to lick their plates - we always say, "You are NOT a dog!!" : ) (But it makes me feel good that they liked their food so much!) Okay, did I write enough to make up for my absence?? Becki

Jane, so glad I came here this morning to see more wonderful decorations. Your old scale is awesome and I do see what you see! So touching to see you found a special place to hang your ornament. Love the look of that shelf in the background with all your tureens on it. I'm just lovin' all these old toys this year. Wonder if DS would like it if I brought some of his out.lol The sail boat with your nutcrackers is so pretty in this picture. Thanks for showing a close up. We might jump in Jeanne's taxi and pickup PM and the rest of the gang and head over to join you for a cup of tea so we don't miss any of your beautiful decorations. Picture perfect job on your desk. This should be in a magazine. Hope that truck doesn't make a quick stop and loose the Christmas tree! Santa on the horse, old print and lamp and candle light. Who could ask for more in this photo. Beautiful decorations again this year. G2G to work now. Punk

I like this cookbook I picked up on a whim. It is mostly vegan with a bit of cheese here and there. All of the recipes are eggless. It is from a long-standing Los Angeles vegetarian restaurant. I can see it packed in a gift basket with tempeh, tamari sauce, whole grain pasta, nuts, egg replacer (health food store), good olive oil, and assorted organic vegetables. Here is a link that might be useful: Follow Your Heart Cookbook

When my kids were very little (before being able to read), I had different paper for each child. Then my husband and I could relax on the couch and they would know which gifts they could open without us having to read the tag on each one. (Am I lazy or what? ) It also makes wrapping go much faster if you have the gifts presorted by person and don't have to change paper for each gift. In our family, Santa brings each child one big thing and the rest of the gifts are from mom and dad. I buy special paper for the gifts from Santa (usually with pictures of Santa on it). I make gift tags with "special" writing and these gifts are placed under the tree separately for the other gifts. That paper never makes another appearance. Santa also leaves each child a letter about their behavior and accomplishments for the past year. It's getting harder to pull this off each year. Happy Holidays!