In only 6 days I will be stepping foot onto an airplane and heading South. Further south then I have ever been before. Below the equator. Excited doesn't begin to cover the feelings.

I have found someone to come in and take care of the cats. One of the ladies from work is happy to stop in a few times and check up on them. I will be cat proofing the house over the next few days.

Tomorrow I will be doing my practice pack and getting ready to decorate my holiday door at the office. I have this idea for a fireplace on the door with a wreath on the mantle and stockings hung all around.

Tonight I headed out for the lighting ceremony at one of hte local parks to start the holiday season. It was a great light/music show followed by a parade. The parade was pretty good. Lots of great lights and some interesting floats. My favorite was a cement truck with lights all around and a couple of penguins on the 'slide' at the back. There were lots of treats for the kids and people were singing out and shout Merry Christmas. Great atmosphere. My only negative thought was that I was not properly dressed to be out for so long. I knew the parka and my snowpants would be too hot so I didn't wear them. What I did wear was ok for the start of my evening but about a 1/2 hour in I was starting to regret that decision. For the first time in I don't know how many years I was not properly dressed for the cold outdoors. I may need at some point to invest in a pair of snow pants that are not as warm as the ones I presently own which are more made for long days out in -40 temps....not temps hovering around -5. But no rush on the new snowpants, I'm heading to a place where the temperature is hovering around 25+ and by the time I get back the temperatures will be closer to -20.

Someone really needs to come over here and get me off the couch and into action to clean, fold laundry, pack and make my decorations.