We Got Our First Christmas card The Other Day

Our autumn was almost spring-like, I could almost make myself believe we miraculously bypassed winter (at least I had fanciful thoughts about it) than two days ago the snow came and along with it our first Christmas card. Suddenly, I felt behind in all the things I had to do –cards to write and presents to buy. I think a certain amount of anxiety comes along with it. Would you believe my dreams are filled with Christmas shopping? I have a list of people I want to get gifts for, the malls are always disorderly in my dreams and I can never find what I want.

Usually, I’m ahead of the game and start my shopping at the end of summer but I find the older I get the faster the season comes upon me.

No matter the hectic pace and extra things to do, Christmas is always one of my favorite holidays. I love the music, the bittersweet songs that were played when I, my parents, grandparents and great grandparents were children.

Last year I lucked out and adopted an animal from WWF for my nieces and nephews. I was surprised with how much they liked it. Their ages ranged from six to sixteen and the idea that they helped save an animal went over real big. The plush animals you get with a donation were adorable. I’m tempted to do it again this year, so they can have a collection of them.

So far the animals I adopted for the kids are;

the Polar Bear
Snow Leopard
Tiger
Cheetah and
Lion

There’s so many to choose from and I admit; I like seeing the package when it comes in the mail and getting the first look at the symbolic animal.

This is the link if you’re interested in browsing through WWF’s selection.

http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/R?i=ZKw0PNEdRAc_5b-S43p48w

They have other gift ideas too, but personally my favorite was the plush animals.

Love This Video, Too Cute

.
I thought this Youtube clip would go good with my last blog. Now if only I could take things in stride as this youngster:)

Best viewed with sound on.

One of A Writer’s Worst Nightmares

I shudder to think it nearly happened to me. I woke up this morning intent on working on the next chapter of my manuscript. I had visions of my characters, scenes and dialogue eager to be written. My mind was set on what I wanted to accomplish.

And that’s when it happened, my computer refused to load. All I could think about was the previous chapters I wrote, the scenes I labored over, the scenes I adored. I fiddled with my computer, booting and rebooting, flicking switches, pressing keys, while all the while thinking of how I should have backed up my work.

It’s such a simple thing to do. All it takes is a few minutes to put it on a disk, floppy or ipod, or even print out but I thought I was safe. It’s easy to dismiss the little things, especially after a long day of writing, editing, networking and spending time with family and friends. But it’s those little things that have a nasty bite; the loss of chapters, manuscripts, family photos, recipes –you name it.

I’m pleased to say, my incident this morning had a happy ending. My computer finely woke up from whatever stooper it was in and I was able to retrieve my manuscript which I immediately backed up onto my ipod.