1) Which holiday do you celebrate this time of year? Christmas!

2) Do you begin shopping for gifts earlier than Thanksgiving, looking for the perfect gift? If not, when do you begin? I don't actually shop specifically for Christmas.

3) Do you only purchase gifts that you know are perfect for the recipient and if you don't find that gift, do you just get anything? This is why I don't shop for Christmas; if something doesn't jump out at me that I know someone can use, I do not look for gifts to buy just for the sake of it.

4) Did you receive or give any "obligatory" gifts this year? Susan and I left her family's party just before the gift giving ceremony, but I think her cousin called yesterday saying there were a few gifts for us. I'm pretty sure they fit into the obligatory category. We did not bring any gifts to the party.

5) Do you decorate your tree as evenly as possible or do you skip the areas that are not visible? I realized that there was a section facing the counter which was not visible; I didn't decorate it. That is when these questions started popping up in my head.

6) Do you like multi-colors on your tree or do you prefer monochrome? I prefer multi colors over one color, but this can be done even if you have one colored lights. We did it.

7) Did you bake "traditional" cookies, frost them and decorate them? or did you cheat and buy the ready to bake kind? We cheated and baked some prepared ones. They just aren't the same. Otto helped me realize that it's probably partly due to the frosting that I haven't been able to repeat our childhood experience. The frosting must be perfect.

8) Are you the host of a holiday gathering? No way!

9) With whom do you spend the holiday? The past couple of years, I have been with Susan's family, but I am always with the Salas family in my heart.

10) How did the holiday turn out? It went well; we chat, we smile, have a good dinner and move on. Traffic wasn't bad either.

I would like to add......... We took our tree down yesterday since we will be away next weekend. We had it up since the Saturday after T-day. The fun part is .... that I had decorated much of it with peppermint Christmas nougats and later found cinnamon. Mmmmmmmmm it was fun taking the decorations off. I recommend putting your favorite seasonal candy on your tree next year!

Christmas? I used to try to visit the family during the holidays, but as I get older, I just don't really like traveling to the snowy parts of the world while it's snowing. Whew! That sure was a long sentence.

I love you all and I'm sure you know that. I do enjoy the family gatherings; they are always filled with catching up, playing games and all around happiness. I love the competitiveness of my sisters and miss playing games a bunch. That is a fond memory from our childhood.

I just hope everyone understands that it is simply the practical side of me that keeps me from visiting in the winter. Hopefully, when I make it there next, in July or August, we will all get together on the lake side of the state.

Enjoy the family gathering! I plan to call while Susan is visiting her grandfather.

After she makes that visit, we will move on to the rest of the family. Her family consists of cousins and extensions that I really have never gotten close with in our family. It's interesting to see the differences in families.

I love you all and have a super time!

Mom said, "...and I am so relieved that you are now having regular 'maintenance' checks! Thank you Susan!!!

Sharba said, "Wowsers! ... Now I've got Kevin on my A**!

Susan deserves the credit for this. Although I do believe in doctors and check-ups, I hadn't gotten any (before meeting Susan) since 1985.

I believe it is possible that I could have lived the rest of my life never knowing about what I had and it never becoming cancer. At the same time, the primary benefit I am taking from this (I hope) is that I must stop eating so much junk! I have been putting a lot of garbage into my body. We really are what we eat!

Sharba, I guess Kevin is on your butt about getting checkups. Do it!

I love you!

On Wednesday, Monday Madness presents.....

1. Do you have a favorite 80's song? No, but during the 80's I enjoyed REO Speedwagon, Journey and Boston.

2. What is the biggest event in my life to date? I don't enjoy questions like this because they force people to categorize events/things in their lives; I don't do that. Does that mean I haven't had big events in my life? Quite the contrary; my life has been a series of big events which are all very important to me.

3. What's one more thing during your lifetime you would like to learn how to do well? So far in my life, when I desire to learn something new, I do. I'll let you know when the next thing comes up.

4. what is your earliest childhood memory? My earliest childhood memory is looking at slides from when we went to Expo 67. Since I was born in 62, I guess I was five.

5. What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? I don't care, but here is a website (probably belongs to the owner of this question.) "... estimate that an average European Swallow flies at cruising speed with a frequency of roughly 15 beats per second, and an amplitude of roughly 22 cm. " woopty doo!

6. Where, When and What is your most favorite memory? I have a bunch of great memories; once again this is trying to force me to categorize which I don't do.

7. Do you fit in? like a chameleon!

8. From Sherle... Tell me your favorite recipe then go to Recipe Swap and share it with all of us! Sorry Mom, I don't have a favorite recipe because I just haven't desired to cook very much.

Now go read my post which is directly below this one!

I had surgery last Thursday. I think it was considered routine or simple, but it was in a delicate area. It was for "severe dysplasia" which I guess means that the cells came up abnormal enough that the docs like to cut it out before it becomes cancer.

I went in at about noon, hung around for a couple of hours and next thing I know, they are finally going to put me "out" for a little while. I wasn't afraid of that, but I did make it clear to the doc that I didn't want any procedures done just for the sake of education. It's a teaching hospital. She assured me that she would only have students look if there was something to see and that nothing extra would be performed.

The anesthesiologist called me the next day to ask if I was pleased with the experience and if I had any bad side effects. That was nice I thought.

A couple days later, a nurse called and asked if I was pleased with the nursing staff. I was.

Just now, the doc called and asked if I was okay and told me that the lab came back showing no further "disease." That is what we expected. She asked when I was going to see her again and when I told her, she thanked me for reminding her that she was going to be there on Monday since she won't be there on Friday.

The point is all is well!

We purchased our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It smells good. We didn't get one last year. We also had to buy some of the basic decorations to put on it.

S wanted lights of one color, but at first I wanted multi-colored lights. I compromised and said okay if they're white we can add other colors. We have ornaments (you know the basic balls) which are blue, gold, green, silver and red. Most of them seem red.

For the first week, we only had the lights and the balls on our tree. I knew it would come to me what else had to be on it. It did.

Yesterday we bought a few groceries and I had to look high and low to find my favorite Christmas candy, Brach's peppermint nougat (with the tree in the middle.) They were burried amongst many bags of the same type but different flavor, wintergreen. Greedily, I bought three bags. S helped me eat the first one, but I ate the second bag by myself. I also put some on the tree! They make a beautiful addition to the the tree along with the little candy canes!

Now, we just need to get Bravo's Christmas bow and take a picture to send to you!

Monday Madness Presents ....

1. What's your favorite TV show and why? Hmmmm... that's a bit difficult to decide, so I will name two - The Apprentice and The Amazing Race.

2. What's your sign? Aquarius! Aquariuuuuuus! da da da da da da daaa daaa... you know the rest, right?

3.Why is common sense so uncommon? I believe this is so due to the fact that our society has "evolved" into a state in which common sense is no longer necessary for survival. I could probably write a couple paragraphs on this topic, but I will just let that one statement lead you to your own thoughts. Go ahead, read it again.

4. What are 5 (or 10) great things about your life partner? He's warm and cuddly. He never argues. His existance defines the term, unconditional love. He loves me just the way I am. hee, heee, he, okay... for real now.... She is warm and cuddly - okay, okay, I'll get serious now; afterall, this was my question. Unselfishness, Pretty smart, Full of Love, Faithful and Beautiful inside and out.

5. Why do you blog? I enjoy putting my thoughts out there and writing is a good thing to do, but I mainly continue to blog as a means to keep in touch with my family.

6. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? I think the woodchuck can chuck wood and he chucks as much as he/she needs in order to accomplish his/her task. I won't say anything mean here, but I hate that this question made me think about it and of course once again, I took it literally. i can't help it. I am my father's daughter.

7. Fiction or nonfiction? Nonfiction! I love resource materials.

8. If you were an animal, which animal would you like to be, and why? I am an animal!!!!!!