Oh Hey There, Stranger

I've neglected you, my little blog.

I sincerely apologize.

But it turns out, the Christmas season is not only the most wonderful time of the year, but also the most stressful and chaotic. The holiday activities have been racking up, and I've found my schedule to be quite busy in the last week.

And it ain't slowing down, friends. I've got two work parties, a church party, and a potential trip to NYC on the docket this week. The parties have all required some planning efforts on my part, too, so I'm looking forward to their occurrences (particularly for the church party - my jazzy red dress will be making its debut there!), and to their finales. It will be good to get out of town and take a break for a little while, I think.

Luckily, these events and activities taking up my life have been doing their darndest to fill me with holiday cheer - and by golly, they've succeeded! Last night, I went to a swanky, chic, formal Christmas party at my friend's house - I felt so posh and grown-up, it was weird. A number of tuxedos made appearances at this party, to give you an idea of how we do formal on the east coast (once a year, for the last 2 years...). And Friday, my friend Jillian and I became Christmas Light Hunters, searching the neighborhoods around us for the residences touting the strongest holiday spirit. Sadly, there just aren't a ton of houses that deck themselves out, but we still found some great ones spattered inside otherwise dark neighborhoods. I'd show you pictures, but it would seem that christmas lights don't like paparazzi - they don't cooperate kindly with girls who have very little photography experience and are just trying to get a quick picture...but I've got some great blurry pictures if you'd like to see those.

And tonight, I went to a Christmas concert put on by our church - filled with songs of joy and cheer from all over the globe. We've got a lot of diversity out here, so we had people representing 3 dozen or so countries, singing songs and playing tunes. It was great. Highlight of the night: the Bells at Mt. Vernon - our very own bell choir. I don't know what it is, but bells at Christmas just infuse my soul with peace and joy. We had a slow start, but my Christmas Spirit is burning strong now!

Happy Christmas, All! May the next few weeks be especially merry and bright for you!

P.S. Hopefully soon I can show you some pictures from the Christmas Lights at Temple Square, when I went with my family after Thanksgiving. That was a beautiful kickstart to my celebrating the Season. But I don't have the pictures yet, so...you'll just have to wait.