I can’t believe Christmas is already so close! Despite the fact that I can be quite slapdash and disorganized in some areas of my personal life, I tend to be quite organized about getting ready for Christmas. This year I am a little bit behind, though. I think I’ve completed about 90% of my shopping, but still have some things to get gotten. And my Christmas cards, which are all addressed and ready to go out, are still sitting in my briefcase, unmailed. Need to get that done today.

This weekend the children and I are going to Bell Buckle to visit everyone – particularly my grandmother – but we are also leaving the house so Jon can have at least 24 hours of uninterrupted CPA study time. His work ethic is pretty amazing; he studies even while he’s driving (listening to study CDs), but he needs to cram in as much studytime as possible at all times.

I am getting very excited about Christmas. I wonder when Uncle Louie will arrive?  I’d say it will be any day now. Uncle Louie is a mysterious relative from the Allison branch of the family, whom we’ve never actually met. Uncle Louie has been visiting our family just before Christmas since my father was a little boy. He lives somewhere called Pigsnuffle and every year he sends a box of small, funny gifts for the children, each wrapped with a silly note referencing events of the past year. We all have a lot of fun with all the other Knoxville cousins (with whom we celebrate Christmas Eve each year) opening the gifts from U.L. one at a time, and reading the notes out loud to each other.