• @frostwoman But it’s only a 3.5 day week. That’s gotta soften the blow a little. (2.5 for me with snow day & RDO! yay!) in reply to frostwoman #
• RT @NASA: “NASA’s Aqua satellite caught the East Coast after the weekend storm. http://tinyurl.com/yagpdxh" – wow! #
• Happy Festivus to all! http://bit.ly/5wHcvN #
• Merry Christmas to all! Hope Santa brings you exactly what you want tonight. Christmas Eve is by far my favorite day of the year. #christmas #
• Watch as NORAD tracks Santa’s journey today. http://bit.ly/5RalWp (@noradsanta) – a great Christmas tradition from the Defense Department #
• Last Christmas visit to this church. It’s going out of business 12/31. Will have to shop for new one for next year. http://twitpic.com/v05ut #
• RT @noradsanta: “Breaking news!! #Santa was just spotted in North America!!! ” – geez, better head to bed! LOL #
• I just saw Santa sitting in Luigi’s pizza. Silly us, leaving cookies & milk all those years. We should’ve left him a slice! #
• Happy Boxing Day! Glad I have nothing to return today! #

• Making rice pudding… lots of rice pudding. #
• Night 2… Making MORE rice pudding… lots MORE rice pudding. #
• @GermanXmas Going to church on Christmas Eve then coming home and having a big feast of Jewish deli meats. Odd, but very memorable! in reply to GermanXmas #
• Used Windows 7 for the first time last night. It feels like Vista. Still like XP best if I’m forced to use Windows. #
• @GermanXmas Did you get the DM with my address? Twitter was acting funny when I sent it. Thanks! #

• FINALLY just mailed my Christmas cards. I’m way behind! This is the latest I’ve ever mailed them. I usually have them out by Black Friday. #
• RT @digitalkitty: “Best. Elevator. Ever. http://i.imgur.com/XwYtO.jpg spaghetti monster FTW! Haven’t heard enough about him lately. #
• If all of this rain was snow, today would be a great day. But no, we get flash floods instead. Stupid mother nature. #
• I take back what I said about mother nature. If not for the flooding, I wouldn’t have found a big leaking can of water seal in the basement. #
• Just post an updated crocheted towel catalog. 12 new Christmas patterns! http://bit.ly/32PTIn #
• RT @patricknorton: “6 Reasons Bacon is Better Than True Love: http://bit.ly/70pNCY" #
• At Philadelphia Christkindlmarkt embracing my German side. Eating wurst/kraut & doing Christmas shopping! Oh yeah & yummy German cookies too! #

• Out shopping for Christmas lights. Yes, I know what time it is. Walmart is totally jammed by the way! #
• Scott Adams is right. This is an overlooked, yet important market. Computers need to be like appliances for seniors. http://bit.ly/8H7Uvt #

• It’s time of year again. Pumpkin spice coffee! @MelittaUSA makes the best. And they wake me up as I pass their roasting plant every morning. #
• XM Holly is playing a New Kids on the Block Christmas song. Program director has got to be a
  30 year old woman. #
• RT @amazonmp3: “use code MP34FREE to get $3 credit toward songs or albums at Amazon MP3. http://bit.ly/MP34FREE #MM” – great deal! #
• RT @PhillyInquirer: “Tip refuseniks to see charges dropped. http://bit.ly/72tFLo" – Hope they sue the Lehigh Pub. Forced tips are just wrong #
• Over the river and through the woods to Thanksgiving lunch we go. Happy Thanksgiving to all. #thanksgiving #
• Black Friday shopping! Woohoo! #
• @Target security guards are keeping people from cutting the line. Way to go! More stores need that on Black Friday. #
• Sears is letting a Ginsu salesman hand out free knives on Black Friday. This can’t end well. #
• 16 stores down. Breaking for lunch then on to more Black Friday madness. #blackfriday #
• About 20 stores & 3 malls later Black Friday shopping is done for another year. #blackfriday #
• A squirrel is burying animal crackers in my yard. I’m not gonna be happy if giraffes and tigers start sprouting up next spring! #

• Ironically, there was a really good article about the Philadelphia Sports Complex in this morning’s NY Times. http://bit.ly/1Offgc #phillies #
• and the Fightin’ Phils are still in it! #phillies #worldseries #
• Dear #Phillies Now would be the time for a come from behind victory. You go ahead & do that. I’ll stay here and watch. Thanks in advance. #
• RT @BrentSpiner: Suggest a new mode of behavior in US. No more shaking hands. Japanese got it right. Bowing is the way. No spread of germs. #
• Just heard Christmas music playing in a store for the first time this year. A festive reminder that November is here. #

Longwood Gardens is a fun place to visit all year long but at Christmas time it’s a totally different place. The amount of lights and flowers is astounding. They’ve really exapanded the displays since the last time I was there two years ago.

Because we were there after dark this year, there aren’t as many great photos, but there was plenty of cold weather and Christmas lights which is all it takes to make me happy apparently! Check out the photos here.

I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

After going to the Bethlehem Chriskindlmarkt, we stopped at Koziar’s Christmas Village. It was the first time I’ve been there since I was a little kid. It’s only grown more impressive over the years. My photos don’t do it justice.

When I think of Christmas it conjures images of small towns with rows of little stores selling gifts in Germany. OK, so maybe not the Germany part. However, a really cool Christmas tradition does come from Germany. It’s the Chriskindlmarkt. Bethlehem, PA (a.k.a. Christmas City) puts on a huge one every year. I finally got a chance to go to it this year. It was a fun day of shopping and some sightseeing.

Then i heard Philadelphia was putting on one of their own at City Hall. It was called the Philadelphia Christmas Village. While not as big it will hopefully be an annual event because it has real potential.

Check out my photos from Bethlehem and then take a look at my photos of Philadelphia.