48 days till Christmas.

With that in mind, I started wrapping up Christmas presents today. I can't remember the last time I did Christmas shopping in December, unless I was buying something for the following year's holiday. I look for things all year long, and when I find perfect gifts, I buy them right then and put them away in my "Christmas closet" and mark them with the person's name. I've told my husband that if I get hit by the proverbial truck before the holiday, he has to make sure all the gifts get to the right people or I will haunt him for eternity.

Every year, my husband looks at me while I'm wrapping up Christmas gifts right after Halloween is over, and he shakes his head and asks "Which Christmas are you up to now? 2018?" I let him laugh. And I'm the one enjoying my home and all the decorations while the stores are crowded with last-minute shoppers who don't have a clue what to buy for whom and if they know what they want, they can't find it because it's already been sold. Jingle bells. 48 more days.

We're having still more friends visiting this month, right after Thanksgiving Day. My old library boss from NY and his wife.... they will be in Dallas for Thanksgiving, and will drive here the day after to see us on their way back east. We haven't seen them since they drove through Clear Lake about half a dozen years ago, but we've kept in touch. They're excited about seeing this big old house... they can appreciate it because they also have a big old farmhouse, in Pennsylvania.

The guest cottage will have a lot of use this month, after a long hot summer of not having any visitors. I'm hoping the weather stays just as it is..... warm sunny days in the mid-80s, then cooler nights when all you need is a sweater or light jacket. I'm also hoping that we don't get too many cold snaps....... not just for the visitors, but for the chickens. They're very content and comfortable in the coop, and I'm sure they wouldn't want to be freezing their pretty feathers off.

I haven't told my old boss that we have chickens..... I'm guessing that the look on his face will be priceless when he sees them. His wife is a lot of fun.... she was the saving grace for me when I wrote the staff newsletter at the library years ago. The Library Board members had no sense of humor whatsoever, but when the Director's wife laughed so hard that she cried at what I'd written in the monthly newsletter, they softened up. Somewhat. Once the Director retired, however, he and his wife moved from NY to PA... and there went a bit of the heart and soul of that library. Not long after, I put the monthly newsletter to rest. And wouldn't you know.... the Board members wanted me to continue with it. I told them its time was done, and that was just that.

I laughed with the Director's wife on the phone.... I've been calling B by her first name ever since her husband retired from the library. But with Mr. H-- I just couldn't ever get used to calling him by his first name, as both he and his wife suggested. Mr. H he was..... and Mr. H he will forever be. I've already made Thanksgiving-ish place cards for when they come here this month. I was tempted to write "Mr. H" on his, but I wrote his first name instead because I know they'll want to take them home. Although, he might like to see Mr. H on his.... so I just may change it.

Place cards...... I've got three trays of place cards for the month now.... all different, for each of the dinner parties/guests we'll be having. And everyone will be going home with a cute little gift bag filled with fresh-picked pecans. I think we've picked over 3000 pecans by now, with still more on the trees. I'm surprised that we don't have hundreds of squirrels on our property. Or maybe we do....... and they've eaten so many pecans that they just can't climb down out of the trees anymore.