Merry Christmas Boys and Girls!

Okay well maybe just in the retail world. I can't tell you how many customers have said "Oh I can't even think about Christmas yet!" Sadly enough a lot have said that about Halloween! (Which is a little more than a month away!) I love fall. Oh wow I love fall! I'm enjoying seeing the changing of the seasons, in more than just the retail environment.

We took a trip to Ashville today, and by we I mean a small group from work. We were the lucky four that got picked to go to a leadership conference given by Hallmark. It was all about our fourth quarter and you guessed it, Christmas! I have to admit, we have some really awesome stuff coming out. I'm excited for Christmas, but I hate that because I know when December comes I'm going to want it to be over. Retail ruins the holidays!

They gave us some really good advice at this conference, now our job is getting our boss to let us do it. She never lets us do anything fun. On the bright side we got a free meal and free stuff! I got a singing snowman! Oh he is so cute. He goes in the frig and is light activated so he will talk or sing when you open the door. I love it! I've been playing with him and made up excuses to make my parents open the frig. They thought he was pretty cool. I think he will be a big seller. They should all be, but the economy is going to make our job a little hard this year.

On the operation boyfriend note, he is now in Kuwait. He will be there for as long as the army deems necessary and then head to Iraq where he will live for the next year. With the exception of today, he has been able to call most days. However, it has only been for about 15 minutes. Stupid timed phones! That is like nothing. Oh this is going to be a long hard year.

I got an email that got me thinking about "religion" and how we as Christians say we are different because we have a "relationship" with God. Well, I'm not perfect and my relationship has been lacking a lot lately. I guess you could say I've been a little upset with God. I know it's silly, but sometimes it feels good to be mad. Trust me, I know it's not healthy, but sometimes you need to do something unhealthy to make you motivated to be healthy again. So I'm just going to say exactly what the email said since I really can't say it any better than they put it. I want to share "just how wonderful, perfect, understanding, patient, loving, unselfish, considerate and forgiving God really is. He has blessed me with a family that loves me and friends that I can confide in. But even more than that, He has saved me from destruction I couldn't even see coming. He gave to me the peace of knowing Him and He has never broken a promise. I love God with all my heart."