Whoa- not a creature was stirring, just the whirring floor polisher and the quick restockers. Now I know what happens at the Walmart after Midnight. I did a one day blitz of shopping yesterday from noon to midnight. Granted I am the Queen of Shopping so it was a joy to cruise through the entire set of peripheral mall stores and then land softly in the mother ship- the mall itself. I even enjoyed a nice dinner at a little Asian cafe I adore--no food court moments for this performance artist.

Speaking of performance artists there is a great bit on motherhood extracted and showing on a G rated mom friendly blog site of Erma Bombeck fans (including me.)
The Mom Song

Well back to the shopping. Spurred on by threats of The Perfect Storm looming in our near future, the Ice Machine of Doom, the Day After Tomorrow winter of our discontent, many of us were out reaping the rewards of generous markdowns by panicky retailers. It is a great time to shop-not much waiting in line in the off hours, no actual hysteria yet- that sets in about Dec 23rd for those who truly wait till the last minute- and these days, for another paycheck. And I'm sure we're all in the same boat when we say that all gifts this year are of a practical nature. My daughter asked for a battery recharger. THAT is the spirit, girl!

Having worked for Nordstrom's in my early years (my experiences translated into Hysterical Blondeness, the book) I have extreme empathy for all store employees and treat them with the fun and frivolity they deserve at such odd hours, often offering to ring things up for them and cover their coffee breaks if I can use their employee discount. So far no takers.

A large chunk of my time was of course spent in the big Barnes and Noble store resplendent with new books and calendars and a Starbucks. If we're going to be stuck inside with no power huddled by the fireplace insert, we'll be reading by candlelight anyway! I want to encourage everyone to give books this year for the holidays- the publisher you save may be my own!


Speaking of books, I'm busy reinventing myself so hang on, it's going to be a wild ride. I'll keep all my friends and family posted when something finally breaks through. Think of it as ice fishing. You've got to saw through some ice to get to the fun.

Back to shopping. Now that I've got the stuff to stuff them with, (oh and Santa will help I'm sure) I'll be getting those stockings hung by the chimney with care~ well maybe after the storm settles down. We don't want to singe our jingle bells.

Which reminds me. My beautiful daughter-in-law Tifanie came over and made cookie magic- delicate, intricately beautiful snowflake cookies. I on the other hand tried to re-melt the chocolate chips on my out of the box coconut bars and well- answered the phone and well- heard husband scream "THEY ARE BURNING!!!" in a loud terrified voice as he froze before the new stove we purchased (no payments till the economy stabilizes) trying to figure out which button to push. He was home recovering from his unfortunate cross-country ski mishap- which falls under the "self-inflicted" category.

That pan of flaming coconut and chocolate chips is now "cooling" outside for the next day or so. It is time for me to pass the cookie baking baton to my son's wife, without a doubt. She and my daughter were a great team. Younger son also does a terrific "cut and bake" batch.

It looks like we are ready for the holidays. It takes a village to create a holiday and right now our new kittens are eating our Thomas Kinkaid Hawthorn Village. Better put that up on a scaffold till they get bigger!

Merry Christmas to all~and a Bright and Promising New Year!