Almost there...

After a visit last night to Opry Mills for shopping, dinner and seeing the Christmas lights with the Finchers, we are officially finished with our Christmas hunting! I slept in this morning for the first time in forever and then spent all of this morning wrapping gifts and preparing some of them to be shipped out. Fortunately, they're doing "family Christmas" the second weekend in January at Dad's so I didn't have to rush to have our gifts for everyone there by Christmas. Everything else we get to pack in the car to take with us either to Clevleand or to Virginia Beach - kind of like Santa's sleigh, only silver, and foreign-made.

All week long, the parking lot of the post office has been progressively fuller and not just during the morning, lunch break, or early evening. Same for traffic around the Cool Springs/Franklin area. I've been nervous about my post office trip all week, but it was really quite enjoyable. Christmas music was playing on the radio and there were attendants walking down the line to smile and help with special needs. I think today, because of the weather (rain, rain, rain...), I was expecting the worst out of people joining me in the ranks of last minute holiday preparation. Instead, I was so pleasantly surprised. I think my heart may have even done that thing where it gets stuck in the back of your throat a couple of times, and I almost reached out and hugged the Salvation Army attendant on the way out of Sam's, and then the guy stationed at the Goodwill truck when I dropped off a load of clothes.

The last of our errands are finished, my tank is full with enough gas to make our trip tomorrow, and all we have left to do is pack. And while I really have enjoyed the last couple of days, all of this shopping and wrapping and shipping has given me only a little downtime with which to read, nap, or try new classes at the Y (so far I've taken a spin class and tried out the pilates class again). As for reading, this week I'm working on "Through Painted Deserts" (Donald Miller) and "Empowering Your Health" (Dr. Asa Andrew).

So far I've gotten one suggestion (which I am hunting for tomorrow, Nat!) but I've been rather disappointed by the lack of reader response. I know there's got to be something you think I should read!