OK, boys and girls (mostly girls, I know) this week is the 8th week before Christmas week. It’s time to gather ideas for Christmas gifts.
Think about each person on your list. What really matters to him/her? Try to give something that matters to the recipient, rather than something that makes you, the giver, look good. Is there something you could make, or is there something that you could do for them that would help out a lot? Some of the best gifts don’t cost anything more than your time.
Make lists for shopping and try to make every outing cover several gift purchases. Gather your wrapping materials all together in one place, and wrap each gift as you bring it home. See? The season is becoming less stressful already!
Take this week to plan the menu for each holiday meal or party you’ll be hosting. Plan the serving pieces you’ll need, and make sure you can find them. If you need a serving piece that you don’t have, make plans to buy one or borrow it from a friend. (Now you see why we’re doing this now– you’ll have your dibs on Mom’s big platter before anyone else.)
During the last week when the days began to shorten and the night time temperatures began to drop, you may have begun to notice shield-shaped brown bugs on your screens and around your doors and windows. Gather them carefully and flush them or toss them back outdoors if you can’t bring yourself to do that. Do not squash them! In death they emit a gross smell that has been likened to sweaty feet, and this smell acts to attract more bugs.
We have been concerned for several years about the declining honey bee population. Honey bees pollinate food crops, and without them farmers’ crop yields are significantly reduced, meaning less food available, and higher prices. The bees would disappear from the hives and never return. For a while it was suggested that cell phone towers were throwing off their internal radar and they were just getting lost and unable to find their way home. Scientists were baffled. The whole problem was known as Colony Collapse Disorder.
I hope the rain has finally quit. I think I am growing gills. Cold, dreary, muddy, and miserable… This evening we saw a red sky and wispy fog out across the valley– I hope those are signs of approaching good weather.
