Dear Santa,

I want CANDY!!! (please)
Here's Ellie and her new best friend. She got right up there and told him what she wanted and even gave him a kiss!

I can wait for Christmas. I love the weeks leading up to it too much! We're listening to Christmas records, decorating pine cones, playing Candyland in front of the fireplace, eyeing the gingerbread house scheduled for demolition in 15 days, practicing holiday concert songs and dance moves, wrapping and hiding presents, turning on the lights each afternoon (we don't even wait until dark), and buying ingredients for all the cookies we're about to make. So, no hurry getting to the 25th this month. Luckily, we have Ben's birthday in January to cushion our post-holiday freefall.

Up the street from us the decorations say it all. The Flyers really are bigger than, well, the babe in the manger. Let's all say a little prayer to Lord Stanley.