Official Start of Winter, Clean Up Myrddin Day, and Laura Stops By

Orange City, FL.
41 deg. partly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 61 deg. partly sunny, NW wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

Winter officially starts at 12:47 PM EST today, but for the most part, I think most people think it started awhile back. With the cold weather and snow storms that have crossed the northern part of the US in past weeks and the cold rainy weather in the southern sections, it's hard to believe that winter isn't here already.

Today, is also the day with the least amount of daylight. Some people say that it's the shortest day of the year, but that's really not quite right. The day still has 24 hours in it, and is exactly the same length as all the other days. I for one am glad that from here on, the amount daylight we have will be getting longer. I don't like all of this darkness and the cold weather that comes with it. Give me a good old sunny day with those warm temperatures, that the days with more daylight bring. :-)

Yesterday was "Clean Up Myrddin Day". Jim and Linda spent most of the day cleaning the inside of me and getting some cabinets reorganized. They also put away the Christmas wrapping paper, ribbon and wrapping supplies that were scattered about in me. Actually they put the Christmas stuff in a cabinet in the bedroom for now. It'll get put in a box in my basement when the decorations are put away after the holidays.

Sometime during the afternoon, Laura called and said that she was out shopping, and said that if she had time, she'd stop by for awhile later. I really didn't think she was going to make it, but about 6:00 she pulled into my site and came in to visit. She had been shopping all day, and was really beat, so she didn't stay too long, but it was sure good to see her again. She said she still has more shopping to do, but has to work 12 hour shifts both today and tomorrow, so that means she'll have to try to finish Wednesday and Thursday.

I think that's cutting it a little close.

Oh, and Wednesday, Anna and Chris will be getting to her house from South Carolina, so I'm sure Laura will want to spend as much time as possible with them.

As for Jim and Linda, I think they're about done with things they have to do before Christmas. The last of the Christmas cards were sent Saturday, and about all that's left is for Jim to send some e-cards to a few more people. Oh, I almost forgot, Linda says she wants to bake some cookies to take to Laura's when they go there to open presents. And, it sounds like they'll be going to Lindsey's parents house, (Marv and Inez's) Christmas day, so she'll want to make something to take there too.

That's fine with me. When Linda bakes or cooks, it always make me smell so good inside! ;-)

Did you know that the poinsettia plant was brought into the United States from Mexico by Joel Poinsett in the early 1800's?