The Hustle is on the Rise

Everywhere you go, evidence of Christmas. People are beginning to turn on their outdoor lights (of course we were the trend in our neighborhood, with the tree up so early and all) Malls are full, the drugstores, the supermarkets starting to send out their fliers. Everyone has the next best thing. Everyone has the best idea. No wonder Christmas turns into this romantic, unattainable thing... It's just not realistic.

I am excited though, because I think I'm 85% finished. Seriously folks, I'm on top of it. It's a wonderful feeling. I need to sit down now, and figure out what I'd like to bake. Not that I do much of it. I remember as a kid, my Mum and her Mum getting together and bake, bake, bake. There were melting moments, snowballs, fruit bars, butter tarts... I'm starting to salivate, just thinking of it. Then they would put trays of baking together, and set it out when people came over. I remember fondly sneaking into the freezer and sneaking some of those oh-so-yummy Christmas cookies. I'm sure no one ever noticed, right Mum? 'Cause I kinda jiggled the tin around, to disperse the cookies evenly...

Now... We don't do that the same. Of course I don't speak for everyone, just myself. Am I glad that I'm living right now? You bet. What with the computer, the Internet, digital cameras, altering photographs, scrap booking, caller id, cellphones, satellite radio, jeans to church.... Sheesh, things are as good as can can be. (That doesn't even take into consideration texting, the iphone, or itouch, because that stuff scares the crap out of me.)
[My 7 year old, is using lingo that I don't understand. In fact the other day, he asked his Dad and I, "When do I get my own itouch?"

Yikes is all I can say. I don't even know how to send a text, or upload a video to the Internet. It seems I'm nearly 'out with the old'. I remember 'booting up' my computer, and having to type in a command in DOS... Does anyone remember DOS? We've come a long way in 15 years people]

Man I tend to get off topic.

My point was, back in the day, people got dressed up for church. Remember the old saying "Wearing your Sunday best?". People had guests over, and served them proper things (at least my Mum and Grama did, so that was my experience) We answered the phone, because it was ringing, not because we knew WHO WAS CALLING. And when we went out, we went out, and we were not reachable until we got home. Cell phone? What was that? So though I'm thrilled to be exactly where I am right now, I do miss the calm of the days gone by.

I've got my advent calendar ready to go. It's been a bit of work preparing, but I'm prepared. We've got Christmas concerts and parties filling up the calendar. My shopping is done. I'm going to start to wrap some gifts this week. I intend to send a few through the mail by the end of next week. [I thought I'd try that out rather than waiting until Dec 23rd this year ;-)]

I've got my digital Xmas cards created, and I'm simply waiting for the disc of pictures. All is good. Life is good.

I've also worked on these layouts for my Yesterday & Today class. I came to the horrifying realization, that I am behind the camera most of the time. I need to get into more pictures. Looking for pictures of myself made that very clear. It should be a goal for 2010. (which seems really odd to type) 2010 that is... Wow. Who would have thought it?

That's whats new here!