Christmas crazies

It’s a new week – and not just any week – a week in December. I’m sure I am not the only person out there that feels that weeks in December are fundamentally different than weeks in any other part of the year. I LOVE December and I LOVE Christmas. But it also makes my life a little crazy. Here are some items on my list for the week:

-Two lectures. I will be speaking to the Newtown Genealogy Club in Connecticut this Wednesday at 7 p.m. about my book. I am looking forward to my lecture. Then, on Friday I am doing a very special lecture. I will be speaking to my daughter’s fifth grade class (and another class) about my book. I spoke to eight fourth grade classes in October and it was so fun! I loved the creative, thoughtful, unexpected questions and comments I got. I will be sure and write more about it after the presentation.

-Submitting an article for an upcoming issue of the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly entitled “Get Published in Magazines: Tips for Getting Your Words in Print.” This is based on a lecture I gave this past August in Knoxville, TN at the National APG Conference in conjunction with FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) Conference. You can watch the lecture online. You can also see most of the other presentations given at the conference at the APG website also on such useful topics as marketing, choosing continuing educational experiences, and your online presence. Check out the list here.

-Christmas cookies. We have a tradition of making Christmas cookies every year – LOTS of Christmas cookies. We have four kinds in the freezer already. We have three kinds left to go this week: gingerbread, Spritz, and a new one called “almond delights.” Over the weekend we will decorate and deliver all of them (hopefully…). I really enjoy making cookies with my kids, but every year it is an exercise in patience and in not micromanaging (snowmen can be green and it’s’ okay for the cookie to have five different kinds of sprinkles….)

-Christmas shopping. I am almost done…just a few hard ones left. And, there’s still one big gift left for my kids. It’s a surprise so I can’t tell you yet!

-Piano lessons, dance class, basketball practice, activity days (a church activity), Irish step. None of these activities are mine, of course, but they are still on my list for the week!

And an update: I took my little Christian to the doctor yesterday after he scared me by coughing until his lips turned blue. He has ear infections in both ears. So now he is on antibiotics – and hopefully on the mend. (And the doctor was unimpressed by my story of him coughing until his lips turned blue, which is, of course, unrelated to the ear infections.)