At his school, just before his first chorus concert.

I also make some jewelry. Kim ordered a piece of jewelry for her daughter, Shy, and I finished it tonight. I really like how it turned out! Tell me what you think.

I keep getting annoyed that the word processing program isn’t finishing my words for me or fixing the words to what I mean them to be. I actually just realized that Word has never done that. It’s the iPhone text system that does that for me… anticipates the words I use a lot and enters them at the right time.

My phone has a relationship with me. Knows me, knows the names of people I text about a lot. I’m sure this says something about me, but I don’t know what. I’m sure if it’s important, my phone will ding to tell me.

When we had the cousins one weekend, I painted everyone’s nails - boys included. And I love this photo of their hands together. Eliza’s, obviously, are the tiny ones.

Now, I like my apples dipped in peanut butter. I like my apples thinly sliced with a little cheddar cheese. But mostly, I like my apples in a crisp. And this is one recipe in which the boys’ choice usually wins.

Chel’s Apple Crisp

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• cinnamon
• brown sugar
• 1/4 - 1/2 c butter
• a bunch of apples

Peel, core and slice the apples really thinly. Pile them into a baking dish until the dish is about half to three-quarters of the way full.

In a bowl, mix the cake mix along with a teaspoon or so of brown sugar and two or three good, healthy shakes of cinnamon.

Melt the butter and pour into bowl with dry ingredients. Mix around some. You’re just looking to make some lumpy spots. Pour the dry mix onto the apples.

Bake at 350 about 20 minutes or so. You want the apples to be soft and tender and the top to be crispy. Scoop into bowls and top with a little bit of vanilla ice cream (or Bruster’s has some cinnamon ice cream I keep thinking I might try with it.).

… You can do this with pretty much any fruit that has enough juice to sweeten up and get tender. It’s great with strawberries. And this weekend, after I get those yummo Harry and David pears, we’re having it with pears.

• making jewelry
• reading my insurance text book
• writing the Christmas story for Mika’s birthday
• finishing a blanket for Hannah
• reading my insurance text book.

What I’m doing instead…

• watching “Chuck”
• thinking that it’s weird that Eliza put a red fuzzy teddy bear on my shoulder
• wishing it was already after Thanksgiving so I could make some of my famous holiday butter mints or a couple of cheese balls
• anxiously awaiting Friday night and my big date night with Mike… and for Saturday when we’ll get fresh, fabulous Harry and David pears
• thinking about how I’m going to cook those pears
• wishing Eliza would go to bed.

It seems like there’s lots going on, nothing much moving forward.

Sunday - gumbo

Monday - brinner

Tuesday - gumbo

Wednesday - spaghetti (leftover Ninja sauce from last week)

Thursday - Griff’s got a chorus concert, so I think we’ll just pick up a rotisserie chicken at the Publix and a few quick sides, so we can eat and be at the concert on time.

Friday - the kids are going to Chuck and Stacy’s for the night, so we’ll eat out in Orlando

If I can finish it, I’ll be ready to have some holiday fun.

Every year, the first thing I need is a list. I want a list where I can write down every single person - teachers included - for whom I’ll need gifts. Here’s how I do it…

1) Make a list of everyone. Just everyone possible. Better to start big and cross people off than forget someone.

2) Decide who will get hand-made gifts and who won’t. Consider each recipient’s wishes. I want gifts to be about the recipient not about the giver (the rare occasion when I don’t want things to be all about me!).

3) As I complete or purchase each gift, I put a check mark by that name, until I’ve completed all of the gifts.

4) If I’m making gifts, I do all of the gift making the same way I would do the card making, set aside an amount of time and work during that time and then stop. Even if I’m not finished. If I need several blocks of time, fine. But I limit myself, so I don’t get too overwhelmed by it all.

5) Make a list of everything needed for wrapping and such (paper, tape, bows, bags, cards, anything) and do all of that shopping at once. Take an hour and do just that stuff. And then, it’s all done and available when I want it.

6) Do the wrapping in sessions, too, so it’s less overwhelming.

With the list, I make a second list of all gifts that need to be mailed (we’ve got lots of family in other states - even more now that we’re in Florida). I plan to purchase or make those gifts first, so they can be wrapped and in the mail by mid-December, in plenty of time for a Christmas arrival.

My folks will be here for Thanksgiving, so I’ll have my gifts for my nephew ready for them to take back with them, cutting down on shipping costs.

I’m doing a couple of new things this year… one friend and I agreed to exchange only handmade gifts (she’s an amazing artist, so I came out ahead on this one!). Also, two college friends and I exchange gifts every year, and I suggested this year that we shop our homes. It’s economical and ecological. Who knew?!

We’re going to find jewelry or books or spa treatments or candles or whatever around our houses that are wonderful items but that we don’t use/like/need/care for anymore. And we’re swapping. It’s a fun way to save a little money. And these girls have great taste, so, again, I did good.

If you use my Holiday Plan and like it, please let me know.

Griff and Eliza, ‘05.

In terms of Thanksgiving cards, I send a handful. If I remember. I’ve got other stresses at Thanksgiving (namely, my parents coming to visit for a week AND STAYING IN MY HOUSE THAT ENTIRE WEEK). If you get a gobbler card from me, yippee. If not, eat your turkey and say a little prayer for my sanity. Actually, do that even if you get a Turkey Day card.

Now, for Christmas cards… that’s another story. Here’s my plan. I follow it with much success every year.

Take your list (made during the initial Question stage), however long it is, and cut 10 percent. Just delete them. If you’ve only got 10 names on the list, cut one. If you’ve got 40, cut four. It’s not an unreasonable amount, and quite frankly, it helps me feel like I’m paring down, making things easier for myself.

It may only be in my head, but it helps. And never have more than 50 people on the list. That’s just unmanageable, I think. But that’s just me. (Keep in mind what stamps cost these days when you’re making your card list!)

Everything else can be done in small blocks of time, so it’s not so overwhelming. I can do an amazing amount of stuff while I watch an evening of television.

1) If you’re buying cards, decide if you want plain cards from the store that you can drop a photo into or photo cards. If you want photo cards, start taking those family pictures and uploading them to Snapfish or some such place as soon as you get the tree up. Order photo cards soon. The earlier you order, the less expensive the cards!

2) Plan to address envelopes (or key in labels) one evening watching television (if you don’t watch tv, I don’t think I can help you. I mean, really.). Stick the labels and stamps another evening. You can buy stamps online to avoid the line at the P.O. and to be sure that you get the cute stamps. And for me, cute stamps are important.

3) If you’re making your cards (which I did last year for the first and final year), make a list of everything you’ll need to make them and buy those things all in one shopping trip. Then, decide when you’re going to make them. Set aside an hour or two or three or whatever, but do it in one block. And decide that you’ll do it all in that amount of time and that whatever doesn’t get done, just won’t. And that’s fine.

4) I always take my stack of envelopes and make two stacks - the folks who get a name signed to the card & the folks who get a short note. And I mean a short note! (If I get photo cards, the note is printed on them, so this step is already done!) Then, I do the signing and note writing. (For those of you who get more than a quick note from me, hush up about it, huh? Don’t want people getting jealous.)

And now, I know there are people who want to write big newsy letters about what happened in their family all year long. I hate those. If I don’t know you well enough to have a general knowledge about what happened in the last year, why are you sending me a card? I want a photo of you and the kids. That’s it. I don’t need to know all of your accomplishments. Let’s not try to make everyone else feel icky about themselves by sharing how fabulous you are. Sheesh. But again, that’s just me.

If that’s your thing, however… Buy recycled paper and use a font big enough for us to play the error game without losing our eyesight (Those of you who know me and Mike in real life know we like to edit stuff that comes in the mail for errors. We’re comfortable with our dork status.).

Now, I’m updating this some this year for financial reasons.This year, I’m willing to acknowledge that e-cards or bloggy cards or special web pages aren’t a bad way to communicate holiday love with those people who may be on the fringes of your card list anyway. (Pretty frickin’ holiday generous of me, huh?)

Now, go make a list! And I wanna be on it!

Griff and Eliza in front of the Chrismon tree at our former church. He was six, and she was two.