Update

We had our first snow this last weekend. Curt took these pictures on the morning of the 24th. It was a light dusting and was completely gone by 9:30 or 10:00 A.M., but it was pretty while it lasted.

Ernie, being the arctic Tibetan dog that he is, loves the cold weather. He almost blends in with the snow...

I've started my Christmas card-making process, but haven't settled on a design for the majority of my cards. I'm trying to stick with a simple layout that I can mass produce fairly quickly. This next card is NOT it. I absolutely love the card, but it would take FOREVER to produce about 80-100 of these and since that's how many I'm going to need, I'm going to have to pass on this one. There isn't much real estate on this card that doesn't have some sort of bling on it, which is precisely the way I like it.

I put our Christmas tree up last night. I had decided that I wasn't going to put one up this year. By the time I finish decorating the tree every year, the cats are starting to take it down. I have an artificial tree that I've had for years, but didn't want to put it up. The problem with that tree is that the branches fit into little holes in the trunk and come out very easily when cats climb the tree - especially when there are two cats climbing the tree... at once... chasing each other... batting Christmas ornaments... slapping... hissing... you get the idea? This year I had a "bright" idea - I'll just buy a pre-lit tree. One where the branches are permanently hinged to the trunk. So far so good. I slept on the couch last night, right next to the tree, with a squirt bottle in one hand and one eye open. Apparently, the one eye didn't stay open too long. I was awakened close to midnight by Smith and Wesson "talking" to each other (it's a half purr/half meow) and running circles around the sofa. They had played Christmas tennis with one of the small ornaments and had it stuck under the sofa perfectly in the center... just far enough under that they couldn't reach it no matter how hard they tried. I got up from my post and went to retrieve something long enough to remove the ornament and return it to it's proper home. I settled back in for another nap and this time, the boys decided to join me. I think their game of tennis wore them out... BRIEFLY. As soon as I started drifting off again, I heard the "tinking" of Christmas ornaments. I was SURE that a large bear had a grip on my tree and was trying to shake dinner out of it. Nope... it was two cats... sitting exactly halfway up the tree, INSIDE the tree, right next to the trunk. Well, they weren't exactly sitting. It was more like a little Christmas Kitty Carousel. As soon as "the boys" heard the sloshing of water in my weapon as I picked it up, they both bounded straight out of the tree looking very innocent. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep last night, but "the boys" had the times of their lives! This morning, I left the tree in the care of my two little Christmas angels while I went to work. All day long I didn't have one vision of sugar plums. I had visions of a horizontal tree in my living room... An angel who would need a proper burial... Christmas ornaments strewn across the living room floor, resembling one of those ball pits that kids play in at amusement parks. I was pleasantly surprised when I came home only to find the angel taking a nap, face down, next to the tree.... her beautiful, peaceful face all in one piece. She had obviously been playing with two ornaments. I know this because they were lying suspiciously close to her little body. It couldn't have been my feline angels who caused this scene. They were sleeping so peacefully on the other side of the room - nowhere even remotely close to the tree. Here are a couple of pictures I took of the tree before Smith and Wesson added their finishing touches...

And here are my little Christmas angels as they were when I arrived home today... worn out from a hard day's work, I'm sure...

This picture isn't very good, but you can kind of see what the outside of the house looks like when I have all the candelabras plugged in.

In other news, I have a date scheduled for my tonsillectomy (now THAT'S some exciting stuff!). I saw the ear, nose, and throat specialist today and will be having my tonsils removed on December 28th. I made sure they were going to knock me out COMPLETELY before the surgery and Dr. Bell assured me that they would. I told her that I was a weenie when it came to stuff like this. Her response was "we specialize in treating weenies". That makes me feel MUCH better! She did tell me that the first week after my surgery was going to be VERY rough. By the sounds of things, the second week probably won't be a whole lot better. I'm planning to be out of work for two weeks or more, depending on how quickly I'm healing and how I feel. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me. I received a card from my Uncle Don and Aunt Rosalia this last week, which was VERY thoughtful and was a VERY beautiful card. Thank you to both of you for your kind, thoughtful words and your prayers.

My bed is calling, so I'm going to run for now. I think I'll give up my post and actually sleep in the bed tonight. I'm hoping the new has worn off the tree and "the boys" have forgotten about it... IN MY DREAMS!!!