This beautiful photo from the Sibley Nature Center in Texas shows you what it looked like here yesterday. Two inches of snow - nothing like any of last year's blockbuster snows - was pretty, I'll admit. It was also an annoyance, since I wasn't able to get out to Costco to get peanuts for my birds, squirrels, and foxes. Did you know that foxes love peanuts? Crazy, isn't it? They will pass up Purina One and make a beeline for the unsalted peanuts.This has been a difficult week for taking photos. Cloudy, overcast, and dark - except for the one day I was able to get photos at a window in my office - it has been a gloomy run-up to Christmas week. Snow was not what the retailers wanted to see yesterday.
I took yesterday and today off from work so that I could get many of my pre-op appointments out of the way. I've got a phone interview this morning with the hospital surgery nurse, then I'll continue "the grand house purge," carrying out to the recycling bins all the magazines I've been saving that I never had time to read, flattened cardboard boxes in which I had been storing beauty products (getting better organized in the process), and assorted other things that the county will cart off today, trash day. I'm hoping that in the midst of all that activity, the sun will make an appearance, and I can get some swatch photos. You wouldn't believe the pretty things I re-discovered as I cleaned over the last week!
I will have Christmas wishes for you next week, of course, but I know that many of you will start to travel or prepare for your holidays early. If you are one of those I might not "see" right before Christmas, I want you to know how grateful I've been for for your friendship and support this year. From sweet comments in contest entries and blog features to my regular pen pals, you have made this labor of love, Best Thing in Beauty, more fulfilling than I had ever expected. I will savor that best-ever Christmas present next week - my readers.
I hope you enjoy the holidays with your favorite people - and pets. What cat person doesn't remember the day kitty climbed the Christmas tree? What dog person hasn't got a special memory of their buddy's first Christmas with the family - or first snowfall? Christmas to me is as much a celebration of our memories and traditions as it is about the "here and now." I can still "see" George (orange tabby of my youth) the day he decided to become part of the Nativity scene I had carefully created. There he was, nestled among the shepherds and their sheep, the three wise men in disarray, with his head in the manger with Joseph, Mary, and their precious newborn baby. Our baby had to be part of the action.
It's time for The Friday Forum. We use the forum to share information and chat. Did you find any deals you couldn't resist this week? Are you using a fabulous product and want to sing its praises? Did you find a beauty product disappointing? Do you have a question others might be able to answer? Want to talk about skin care? Just use the comments. Don't be shy. Just make sure to ask any question you might have over the weekend. By Monday, most readers have moved on.
We have busy weekends and slow ones on the forum. I'm always happy if even one reader stops by. Leave a comment, and say hello - even if you don't want to comment on beauty products. Tell us your own Christmas stores!
Given how much we all have to do this weekend, I'll skip a week of posting good beauty deals in the comments. I'm sure the temptations have flooded your own inboxes.
Thanks for reading Best Things in Beauty! Got anything you want to talk about?
Photo courtesy of Sibley Nature Center