Forget Christmas,

TOMORROW is the hap-happiest day of the year. Why? Two words for you...

WINTER SOLSTICE!

This is the day of the year that I look forward to all Autumn, ever since we moved to England. It's the shortest day of the year, with the sun rising after 8 am and setting about 3:30 pm. After tomorrow, the days start getting longer again. And that is a serious reason to rejoice!

The Christmas tree is finally up, and Edith had a great time decorating it. Dylan was more interested in jumping off the furniture and whining. The house is beginning to look a bit festive.

The kids have had their Christmas plays at school this week. They've also had their Christmas parties and will be doing a carol service at St. Mary's church tomorrow. It's the ward Christmas party tomorrow, too. It's been a very busy couple of weeks!

Edith is actually in bed right now, taking one of her very rare naps. She came home from school crying and exhausted, and climbed straight into bed without even having lunch. Poor baby--I hope she's not sick for Christmas.

The holidays are always difficult for me. Martin works very long hours, so I miss him. And I always think of my family back in Utah, and I miss them, too. December is really just a month to be gotten through, and January is the month to be enjoyed. Especially this coming January, as Martin will be taking a week off work. Hooray! But I'll do my best to make it magical for the children. And I AM loving the smell of fresh pine and those lovely cinnamon ornaments I made last year.

Time to clean the house. I don't want to be embarrassed by this mess if the world ends tomorrow!