Christmas countdown

Christmas is coming…

…and I am aware that I’ve been slacking… Did you know almost 40% of your holiday prep time is GONE gone gone… and here I am, neglecting the posting of my “Christmas is coming, the sky is falling!” blogs…

My excuses, such as they are, are as follows:

  • I’ve been hanging out with friends.
  • I’ve been traveling.
  • I’ve been taking photos (Almost 600 images that I have shot over the past few weeks are grinding around in the computer waiting for processing so you can buy them!)
  • I’ve been fondling my quilting fabrics, thinking, planning, plotting….
  • I’ve been buying out the book section at Goodwill, so I have many more excuses not to do housework.
  • Oh, and housework.
  • And work-work.

Yet, time waits for no woman to prepare for the holidays. I DO have my Christmas cards already. They aren’t signed or addressed or stamped, mind you, but they are HERE!

I have the gifts for that list of ‘just a little something’ people almost completed, and I do have a ‘short-list’ of gifts for the majority of the family. Which is really a SHORT list this year (No, not the family–I haven’t off’ed anyone! Just the quantity of gift$ per person…)

The biggie is always Timmy. As I usually get one REALLY GOOD IDEA. And then, his birthday occurs on December 2 and I end up giving him the REALLY GOOD gift then, and have to hit the drawing board again….

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Of course, since these two beauties will be joining our family on Sunday, I may just buy him stock in lint rollers—meet …well, Nameless and Nameless Jr.- (25 combined pounds of FUR)

I posted a poll last month. You responded that you feel that handmade is better. You preferred to give and receive thoughtful (and possibly handmade) gifts.

So, share with me, and the thousands (lol) of other dedicated readers…What are some of your favorite gifts you’ve received –and why?

And, one last thing…if you are looking for a bit of spiritual whimsy to add to your holiday stocking, check these out…my brother’s newest cool venture!

 

Etcetera…

…just random bunches of fleeting thoughts…(they get more entertaining as you go through them….)

This past Sunday, thanks to someone linking my blog post, I had my all time high of readers. Almost 300 people visited this site that day, almost 500 over the course of the weekend—and I got ONE response. (from my husband) Just curious, folks. At the bottom of every post, there is a place to leave a comment…

Have you tried and it’s too difficult? Do you have to do something like register? (NOT be rude, I just sometimes don’t realize that it’s so difficult, because “I” am signed in….)  I totally get not responding to everything I read. It just seems like pretty low percentages…

Three or four people did search out my email and take the time to privately comment….which seems like much more bother….

A few people have asked me how to Subscribe to the blog. That makes me happy. (Will they comment though?? Ah, that is the question! LOL) To subscribe there is a column to the right, titled “Subscribe Here…” If you choose Entries RSS, you can subscribe via whatever Reader you use (I have a Google homepage, with a tab set up just for blogs I follow. Whenever someone updates, it shows up. There are other types of readers that I know nothing about. But, that is the button to get you started! )

More importantly, that little countdown clock I mentioned I had on my homepage indicates that there are only 90 days left now till Christmas!!  Did my post of 10 days ago shock your system into thinking about the holidays? Have you done any list making? Bought any gifts?

I  have!  Sitting in my studio are almost all the makings for the gifts for my employees and co-workers, my quilting buddies and stocking stuffer-ish things for the family in general. Obviously since they all READ the blog (let me re-phrase that… I guess they read it…lol.) I can’t really say what it is… but I’ll take a pix and post it after Christmas—then you can use this idea next year!

And, because he is a cute, but dimwitted creature, who has for a friend a cute, but somewhat prickly creature, here is a story about our cats. IMG_3740

(Hamish, ‘the Red’ or ‘the Bad’ or ‘the Scared’, hiding in the vanity in the master bathroom, because of a thunderstorm. He opens the cabinet door with his paw, and climbs in to cower behind my personal products)

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(Miss Tatiana, with evidence of a recent kill beside her)

You have to go to my husband’s blog to read the story of the little excitement at our house the other night around midnight…

Anyway, back to the comments thing. (I know, let it go!! LOL)

I opened my Photo website up the other day, and have had some serious inquiries from people interested in purchasing my art!! Yippee!!!! And, although there have been in the past week or so, over 5,000 hits, there has been ONE comment.

So, to summarize. Silly Cats. Christmas—it’s coming, ready or not. Subscribing and commenting. Buy photographic art as Christmas gifts from home in the comfort of your jammies.

Remember, comments are like virtual HUGS. High fives! Or, as Sally Field once said, it shows, “ You like me. You really LIKE me!”

(I promise to come up with a more entertaining post next time. Really.)

I hate to even mention it…

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….but Christmas is less than 100 days away…. (99 to be exact, and I know this because I have a  countdown thing-y on my homepage…)

What that means, folks, is that THIS YEAR, we’ll be having Christmas on December 25th. I know, I know, you are saying, “This chick has a screw loose, it’s ALWAYS on the 25th!” 

But I have spent the last 19 Christmas seasons in a variety of retail endeavors, and it seems that way too many of you out there don’t seem to BELIEVE that Christmas was on the 25th last year, too.

The number of shoppers who truly and honestly stare at you dumb-founded when you tell them it’s IMPOSSIBLE to accommodate their demands at the last minute is astonishing. The number who say to you, “But I need xxxxx for a Christmas present!” Like it was a private holiday for THEM.

As if all of the other gazillion souls you had to play bumper cars with in the parking lot were all out for a Sunday drive.

Yuh huh. Bring it on!

That also means there are only 75 days till I start my second annual Christmas “Photo of the Day.”  You want in on the excitement this year??

Subscribe to my blog and you won’t miss a thing, because this year, I am going to post a photo on my blog every day from December 1st through Christmas Eve. I’m even thinking of having a give-away, if I can work out all the details.

If you were on the list last year, don’t worry, you are good to go… I will send out an email to kick things off on December 1st. (Click on this to see last years images.)

Hmmm, now to get cracking on some photos…

PS… if you like the wreath above, get thee to your local Michaels Crafts store before Halloween. It’s a BLACK PVC wreath that I added bright glass Christmas ornaments to so I could hang it in my kitchen, with all my black appliances, and teal walls!