Good Morning,

Today I have to finish up some Yule shopping, (hopefully) and I am looking forward to getting out of the house for a few hours. Either something I ate on Saturday night at the restaurant did not agree with me or I have a touch of a bug. Blah. I am starting to feel better and besides being stiff from either being at my desk or crashed on the couch, I am on the mend.

Yesterday I took the pile of gifts that had been stacked up in my office and had a marathon gift wrapping session in the kitchen. Now I can see the floor of my office again. I am typically a very tidy person so Having a pile of shopping bags all lined up on the office floor was starting to make me twitchy.

Today is going to be cold again, but I am going to bundle up and head out to the historic section of town anyway, I need the fresh air and the walk on Main Street will do me good. I have to pick up a few gifts that I ordered,  and figure out what I want to purchase to finish up the kid's gifts.

 This coming weekend my husband and I are going to cook a turkey and have all of our adult kids over for supper. After enduring two dried out turkeys on Thanksgiving, undercooked casseroles and vegetables at various relatives houses I want a good turkey and all of the trimmings that we like.
The Hubs got a turkey from work, so this week I will start to organize the trimmings and get it ready to go. I think I will make a red velvet cake the day before the dinner, just for fun. They are so festive. Or if I can find a Yule log cake at a local bakery I might just do that instead.

This year our holidays are going to be different. Typically we have our adult kids over for a quiet dinner and to relax after the craziness of seeing all the relatives on the 24 and 25th, but this year, since my oldest son Kraig, just bought his first house a few months ago... we will be going to Kraig's house for dinner on the 25th. So a new tradition for my brood and I am looking forward to it.

Yeah, I am still doing most of the cooking. But either I rush home from the relatives, and set everything up here... or I go to his house and set everything up ahead of time. I am thinking of doing pulled pork in a crock pot, and I need to figure out the logistics of hauling food and dessert across town. Kraig and Kyle can handle the drinks, chips, dips and cheese trays.

Besides his house is seriously great and he is excited to share his home with the family at the holidays. He and his brother Kyle used to share an apartment now Kyle is his room mate at the house. Last week I went over to help them decorate and that's when we kicked around the idea of him hosting the dinner on the 25th. So as I helped him put up his little 4 foot tree in his living room, the lit pine garland in the kitchen, and the table top Cardinals Baseball tree that is his brother's- which ended up in their kitchen on top of the big kitchen table, which looks great there... we hatched our current plans.

It took everything I had NOT to go crazy and run out and get more holiday decorations. What he has was great for an apartment, but now that he has a house- the holiday trimmings need a bit more oomph. However, I did restrain myself. I am a floral designer and I will decorate any surface in front of me.... so I reminded myself that its not my house and if the boys want more decorations they would ask me for help.Oh and if you are wondering, yes they did and still do roll their eyes at me.

So, Yule is just around the corner, I am finishing up the shopping and soon cookie baking will begin. Today I want to listen to some holiday music, enjoy the chilly day and relax. If you want more ideas for celebrating Yule- and getting in a holiday spirit, check out the Yule chapter in my new book, Seasons of Witchery. 
Blessed be, Ellen

Good Morning,
Last night the Hubs and I took in the sights and sounds of the Holiday happenings of historic Saint Charles. The weather was lovely and in the low 50's high 40's. The warm temperatures brought folks out in droves. Here is a link if you want to check it out. http://stcharleschristmas.com/

They have been doing this Holiday festival for years and it gets bigger and better every year. Here is a picture of the Civil War Santa- from their website- and one of the first Santas we saw this year.Oh and yes, we saw Julinesse again, as well as Frontier Santa, Pere Noel, Jack Frost, (he always is so cranky and argues with everyone. It's funny and the kids and teens love it). Ah lets see... we also saw Clara from the nutcracker, the town crier, an Angel and of course the Sugar Plum faerie.

As I wrote about in my book, Seasons of Witchery, taking a walk along the cobblestones of Main Street and enjoying the lights (I think there were even more lights this year- it was gorgeous) and seeing all of the characters always help to put me in a Holiday mood. So the Hubs and I walked around for a couple of hours, grabbed a hot chocolate and a cookie from "Grandmas Cookies", listened to the Drum and Fife Corp and of course I ended up stopping at Main Street Books, to order a few things. Here is a link to the store- check it out! mainstreetbooks.net
I did an author event for Seasons of Witchery and Witches Tarot, there this fall, and I always support my local independent book store! That and hello, a writer shopping in a book store? What are the odds?

Since the weather is so warm this weekend the holiday lights are going up on the house- today. No more excuses from the Hubs... I mean jeez, we have orange lights all over the house for Samhain/ Halloween, it feels funny to be one of the last folks in the neighborhood to put up their winter holiday lights. I know its only the first of December but, wow. I feel like a slacker. There is one house in our neighborhood a block over that is really something, and holy crap you could signal passing planes with the light display. Its a little tiny ranch style house, but I would imagine he has an extra breaker box. That's a LOT of lights, its a toss up between over the top obnoxious and jaw droppingly cute.

I really wanted to switch over to outdoor LED lights this year, but after dropping several hundred dollars on computer repair and sewer line clean outs the week of Thanksgiving, our white icicle lights will have to do. Besides we could not agree on new LED lights anyway. He wanted the old 1950's vintage looking big colored bulbs and I preferred the faceted looking large bulbs in the nifty new colors.

When we drove home from Main Street last night he even pointed out to me all of the houses that have those old school types of lights. Yeah they did look nice, when they wrapped them in a garland. So we agree to disagree and are putting back up the icicle lights along the roof line of the house. Half of them are only 1 year old anyway, We had to replace them last year as they blew out while we were hanging them up!

A week from today is the first Witches Discussion Group. My friend Charlynn and I will be hosting this. Here is all of the information for that- I hope to see many of the St. Louis area Witches there! It is FREE, and it is a fun way to get out and meet and greet with other magickal minded folks. Topic for December: Yule - A Witch;'s Guide to Surviving the Holidays.

Witches Discussion Group
Hosted by Ellen Dugan and Charlynn Walls
Date: December 8th 2012
Time: 2:00- 3:30 pm.
Place: Kathryn Linnemann Library (Meeting Room)
2323 Elm Street
Saint Charles, MO. 63301
Library Phone Number 636-346-6294
Ages 18 and up are welcome.
FREE!

A new discussion group for the Witches, Wiccans and Pagans of the St. Louis area.
Topic for December: Yule- A Witch's Guide to Surviving the Holidays
We will be meeting monthly to discuss magickal topics of interest. This will be a friendly exchange of ideas, magick and the discussion group will allow for attendees to have the chance to network and meet other magickal folks from the area. Ages 18 and up are welcome. The discussion group is free.

Please note: Due to work on the Blanchette Bridge, please consider taking 370 or the Page Extension to come to Saint Charles. We look forward to seeing you there!

Blessed be, Ellen