HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

I thought I'd title this "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" because I'm actually writing this after Christmas. To me, the holiday season really runs through New Year's. I guess this has always been my mindset because I teach school and we're off through New Years - so that's always a break time for me. We did have a very good Christmas this year. The house is done enough so we could have a little celebration there (though not completely done - more on that later). We opened presents at the house and then had dinner at my brother's place later in the day. It was basically a nice quiet affair, which I was more than happy about as I need to get away from the "hustle & bustle" for awhile. No concrete plans for New Year's as of yet, but I'm sure we'll do something. I'm not going to the panhandle until after New Year's this time - and that will be for about 3 days. I hope the weather is winterlike when I go. Yes - I'm one of those who actually likes the cold weather.

THE HOUSE - Quite a bit has been done since my past post, though, as I said, not everything yet. The kitchen cabinets and counters (without lamination) were installed last week. We're hoping to get appliances in this week. As far as the bigger things that need to be done - the electrician has to come and finish up the electrical (about half the house is now electrified); the "trim guy" has to come and install the baseboards, window sills, and interior doors; and my father's room has to be sanded, textured and painted yet. We stored everything in there while they did the rest of the house. So, I'm hoping everything will be totally complete by the end of January anyway.

FAITH UMC - Things, as usual, have been in full gear at FUMC through the holiday season. The musical "One Small Child" was a great success. I like to build on those successes. We did some special anthems and sang carols throughout December. Our Christmas Eve service was wonderful! We ended up doing more music than I had originally anticipated, but it was really all for the better as everything turned out just awesome! We had Worship Choir, Children's Ensemble, and a good young soloist by the name of Nicole Winchester. I have had a few more responsibilities for the last month or so since Pastor Debbie has been out on maternity leave, so it's been a busier than usual season for me. We are, however, going to wind things down some over the next couple of weeks - and then gear back up to prepare for the Easter season. Easter comes earlier in 2008, and we don't have too many weeks to prepare. So, we will be in preparation for our Palm Sunday Presentation by the end of January.

MY TEAMS - Well, the ol' Bucs pulled off another playoff run, albeit a very slim chance to make it all the way - but MUCH better than last year's 4-11 season. So far, we are 9-6. They played San Fransisco last week and pretty much conceded that game to the 49ers by playing mostly backups the whole time. I really wanted to see them get into the double digits of wins. They have one more chance for that this week as they play Carolina at home. I REALLY hope they win that game! As for the USF Bulls, after that great run, they lost several games - so the big rise was short lived - but it was good enough to get them into the Sun Bowl and build a foundation for more national exposure in the years to come. They ended up 9 and something as far as the record - so still in all - not a bad year.