What's a Christmas-gram?

In the words of Buddy the elf: "I WANT ONE!" I do realize that this is the second time I have mentioned a Will Ferrell movie in my little blog, and while I would not consider myself a huge fan, I do like many of his movies. And Elf, well, I enjoy Elf very much! This is likely due to the fact that in my first two years of teaching, my two mentors/best buds, Kate and Beth, made it a ritual to watch and quote the film several times during the holiday season. It helped me appreciate the movie all the more.

Tonight Mike and I are addressing holiday cards and wrapping gifts so some time with Buddy the elf seemed perfectly appropriate. I'm sort of ambivalent about the holidays. I love celebrating for the usual reasons--cookies, gift-giving (and, ahem, receiving), Christmas music, sparkling lights... But it also causes me a bit of anxiety. I tend to start thinking/worrying about what gifts to give around mid-November, but wait until, oh, Decemeber 10, to actually begin any shopping. Then I spend the week leading up to Christmas procrastinating the gift wrapping (I loathe wrapping). Enter Mike, who is quite a good gift wrapper :) This year is no different, but I might be a day ahead which isn't so bad!

Today was my last day in the jewelry studio, and it was quite productive. My final project is FINALLY done. I had a few melt-downs this week and ended up having to put an additional 8 or so hours into the piece in order to complete it. Alas, it is really awesome, if I do say so myself :) I finished four pieces that a friend commissioned and was able to sneak in two gifts for family members (though I had hoped to do a few more, I am glad I got these in). Photos are in order, but the photo-storing computer is on the fritz at the moment, so that will have to wait till another day.

Riding has been pretty low key lately due to the freakishly frigid temperatures. I am one who will ride outside in almost any conditions but there have been several days lately where the ground was too frozen and the wind was too wicked to do any sort of hacking. Alas, bareback in the indoor is as good as it gets, but we are still having fun! The boarders at my barn got together to make several jumps as a gift to our barn owner/trainer. They look fabulous (I can't take credit for much!), and those deserve photos too!

Happy holidays to anyone who might be reading, and I promise photos soon!