I miss her already

So last night the husband and I had dinner with dear ones, as we said good-bye to this fabulous friend. She's moving away for a time (sniff, sniff), so we just had to squeeze in one more rocking good evening of fun with her before she leaves.

All of us love her so much -- we fight for her services as a godmother or confirmation sponsor for our children. If my remembering is correct, every family in the room was lucky enough to have her as a godmother for one of our children; in our family the sunny girl claims her. She's got some strong prayer mojo, people.

tangent: OK, show of hands: how many of you think this urchin looks like a Pre-Raphaelite beauty out of a painting by Rossetti or Burne-Jones? We think so, too.

The only good thing about saying goodbye to our beloved friend is that we know she's not leaving forever. But we all sure will miss her while she's gone!

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Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas, so if your family follows the old custom, you might have found some treats in your shoes when you woke up this morning! Check out this cool article about the real St Nicholas; I just love this kind of stuff!

So today behind the door of our Advent calendar, of course we find a story about Santa. And I am telling you, this is the best Santa story ever! Santa Calls was out of print for a time, which was tragic -- but now it's back. Just look at the beautiful illustrations! Yummy!