It's The Hap-Happiest Time of the Year

Thought I'd start by posting some pictures of the newest addition to our family, Daphne. We got her from the litter that came from the stray cat that Joshua and Lily took in. We kept all the kittens and mother for a few weeks and fell in love with her. I was determined not to keep any of the kittens, but just couldn't help myself and now we don't know what we'd do without her. She's so sweet and funny. She's even gotten old Milo to play with her. Her favorite "toy"

Werther's candy wrapper which she carries around in her mouth and deposits wherever she wants to play with it. Usually that's on my bed or on the couch - wherever we are. She's become our little princess but is quickly learning the meaning of the words "No" and "Get Down." On a sadder note, our dear older cat, Chloe, is in declining health and we fear we won't have her around much longer. Chloe is the first cat we've ever had so losing her will be very difficult for our whole family. Joshua seems to be the most upset about it.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Heather, Mark, Paige, Jennifer, Alison and Christopher all came and were able to stay for several days. We loved having them and the house feels pretty quiet and lonely without them now. While they were here, Mark fixed our computer and now I can blog again. It was running so slow, it was impossible to use it for much. I've been doing everything from my iPod for months. It's nice to have the computer back. Heather and Mark also gave us a 500 gb hard drive so now I can back up everything and have plenty of storage.

I never do Black Friday because I HATE the crowds, lines, and early hour, but this year Don and I decided we'd really like to get a laptop and Office Depot and Staples both had an HP for $299. I decided to go to Office Depot because they were giving out vouchers at 5:00 a.m. even though they didn't open until 6:00 a.m. As I drove by Staples at 4:45 a.m. I noticed their line had only 4 people and when I got to Office Depot I saw their line (very long) and headed right back to Staples. Staples didn't hand out vouchers and didn't open until 6:00 a.m. so I stood out in the cold for 1 1/4 hours but once I got in I got one of the 9 laptops available and was out the door at 6:05 a.m. and back in bed at 6:20 a.m. I was pretty proud of myself for getting just what I wanted and nothing else (although they tried very hard to talk me into the more expensive laptop and their extended warranty).

I'm all decorated for Christmas (we decorated before Thanksgiving this year - the first time I've ever done that and something that, in theory, I'm against). Don's kids and grandkids were happy to see all our decorations and want us to make it a tradition to decorate before they come. I've also got my Christmas cards in the mail and most of my shopping done.

Don got a new calling Sunday. He's been in the High Priest Group leadership since we moved here but was called Sunday as Membership Clerk. I think he'll miss working with the High Priests but he's excited about his new calling too. He'll be very good at it.

We met my parents in Bend a few weeks ago and spent the night in a Comfort Suites where Joshua got us a discount. My mom gave me her beautiful Christmas village (I've never had one but always wanted one). She also gave me our old Nativity Scene from our childhood. It's cheap and worn but holds a lot of memories for me and I'm thrilled to have it. We had a nice, if short, visit with them and stopped in Sisters and did some shopping. We love Sisters, and would also like to go back to Bend and see more of it. Seems like there's a lot to do there.

Sometime within the next week or two (we're watching the weather), we're going to go to the coast (Coos Bay) and spend the night so we can see the Christmas lights at Shore Acres State Park. They call it "a million points of light" but in reality there are at least many thousand lights decorating the beautiful garden there. It's supposed to be pretty spectacular so we're anxious to see it.

Well, Daphne has joined me at the computer and is making typing very difficult for me. She's trying to attack the screen and walk across the keyboard so I'm going to quit for now. Guess it's like having little kids - you have to work while they nap. Here's a cute cartoon -- and so true -- this is exactly how I eat now that we have Daphne.