December is upon us. Some have already fought the teeming hoards of shoppers. Others have hidden away next to the fireplace, avoiding the insanity that comes with holiday shopping for just a few more days. I prefer to hide on my couch with a big pile of supplies. Today, I earned myself a pile of cards. Having already addressed envelopes, I may not need them, but it always seems someone gets missed in my first wave of holiday hailings.

The drive home today featured, snow, snow, more snow, and people who can't drive in snow. A journey that usually takes twenty to thirty minutes took almost an hour. I even punctuated the excitement by jumping out at a red light to pull a huge chunk of ice off of the wiper blades. At the time, I was wearing a skirt, no coat, and some calf boots. Someone had to be amused, right?

I have spent to rest of the day plotting the joys of Christmas. I have goals involving cookies, wrapping, even more candy. So far, my fridge overflows with chocolate-covered cherries, peppermint patties, raspberry creams (that blow the last batch I made out of the water), coconut logs, and maple creams. 'Tis the season to expand my waistline...and yours?

I spent more time on my exercise ball today. On some planet (the one I am from), it makes sense that I can do push-ups while balancing the ball under my legs better than I can do normal push-ups. In case your face is squished out of shape by consternation, I assure you that my version of a push-up still falls short of the accepted norm. Sometimes, I even pause to hug the floor.

I also put the finishing touches on some classy hobbit art. I think I shall wait until the new year to start peddling those wares, since the holidays have descended on us and I still have candy to make, weight to gain from snarfing cookies, and I know I forgot something important that I need to do. In the meantime, stay cheery.

A couple of today's workout activities reminded me of important concepts while making me feel like I was doing some sad imitation of dancing. Maybe I should ask for artistic grace for Christmas next year. So what did I learn?

The trick to doing a new workout exercise that focuses on one side of the body is to start with your dumb side. Then you feel more accomplished when your smart side makes the last half of the journey seem so much easier.

The flaw in kicking your leg up over the back of a chair falls in the ease of resting your leg on the chair when it falls there due to lack of strength.

Real friends celebrate your accomplishments with you, even if it was a task you should have been able to accomplish in the first place.

Munching on sweets actually becomes less desirable after working out as your body requests healthy protein.

Who knew?

Hopefully you. Have a wonderful, healthy holiday.

I always make new resolutions for the new year, but I feel it might be time to make new rules. I have a feeling this might ostracize some one of my friends, but it might be time for that to happen anyway.

1. If you can't make plans with me at least a week in advance, don't be angry when I am not available.

2. When I state a belief or lack of desire to do exactly what you want more than once and you push again, I will realize your lack of respect for me and act accordingly.

3. A better me will inspire me to treat others better, so the new year will find me focusing more on selfish concerns.

4. I've let too many people push my ideas aside so I would always be there for them. It's time for other people to show a little encouragement. That's really the heart of all the rules.

Here's to a new year filled with wonderful things from your favorite hobbit. Did I mention I saw that movie today. Oh, hobbits, those dwarves would be lost without you.

The year winds down whether we want it to or not. Was 2013 good to you? Were you good to it? Ready for a quick review?

Only a couple of months stand out. I got to see awesome friends in July. September sucked in ways I can't quantify. My Halloween costume fell short of my normal effervescence, and I blame September. My hubby still loves me. I seem to have collected a few big headed stuffed animals who are watching me type and whispering in my ear about big heads, bald heads, and too much hair. (Turtles are flipping crazy.)

November heralded the typical amount of distraction that results in nanowrimo failure. I guess that speaks of one of my goals for 2014.

And lovely December? I'm still working out with my friends from time to time. I scored some minions, jewelry, and random clothing for the holidays. I may want to add another goal about declaring my own style a little more loudly. (I am not sure when people think they saw me wearing a sweater.)

Today we had a late Christmas dinner with some people who can teach us a lot about how to be better guests. That's right. You can feel a top ten list coming on. How to phrase this...

10. Show up for dinner after visiting the fast food joint down the street.
9. Make a comment that makes it clear you think your host has bad taste. "I'm glad I told you what to buy."
8. Make sure you let people know that they didn't provide everything you expected (brownies, those lemon cookies they made for a much bigger gathering three months ago, fudge).
7. Coach your child or grandchild to say "Thanks anyway" when they don't like their present.
6. Loudly declare that you plan to immediately replace the aforementioned toy.
5. As soon as possible after arrival, begin planning out all the places you plan to go after you leave.
4. Despite claiming not to be hungry pack food away with a minimal amount of gratitude.
3. Leave behind a gift that you expressed distaste for to make sure the host knows to try harder.
2. Touch the food on the serving tray with your hands as much as possible.
1. ...better yet, use the fork that was just in your mouth. (Best if you announced someone at your house was sick this morning.)

As always, I must account for my resolutions for this past year. How did I do?

1. Respect myself, my achievements, and my goals as much as I expect other people to and ensure that respect or cut them loose. I think I neglected this one until this last month. Guess it's back on the list for next year.
2. Learn to play notes besides B, C, D, E, F, and G on the top two strings of the guitar. I made some progress in that direction and then got distracted by my other million projects.
3. Develop a plan to sell some of my craft artistry. Etsy didn't work for me last time, but we'll see what I can do, right? I did post some beauties to my fiction blog for review, but...
4. Keep breaking unhealthy bonds with people who don't know how to be friends.Some events of the past month lead me to believe I could do better.
5. Be more consistent with my exercise routine. Over the past couple of months, this one has been a success. I even reclaimed my hill-inspired calf muscles.
6. Post to each of my blogs at least one a week. We know how well I do at this, don't we? I bet you know this one is going back on the list.
7. Tidy and organize my house so I spend less time cleaning and re-cleaning the same piles. I'm making some progress on this one.
8. Eat less cookies and more healthy yummies. I did okay on that for a couple of months and then the holidays drowned me in sugar love.
9. Learn to accept praise. The goal is to say "thank you" even when I think they keep repeating the same pseudo compliments over and over. If they don't like it, at least they'll stop being pests. I'm not sure. I didn't really get a lot lot of compliments.
10. Read my way through my backlog. That should keep me busy all year. I started to read through my backlog and then I got more books. This is a wonderfully repeating cycle.
11. Watch less television. I should be able to do that since I watched every episode of Macgyver, The Unit, and various other shows last year, so I should be able to cut back. I think I did a better job at this...if only because of #5.
12. Weed through my clothes. Sometimes, I really do need to admit I will never wear some of those gifts people gave me. I did this. I really did this.
13. Actually succeed in giving away an incentive on my fiction blog. More people should follow that little gem. I have big plans and hopes for that baby this year. I think I forgot to offer an incentive. Silly. Silly. Silly.

The new year is coming. The new year is coming. Hide. Get your huge pretzel, black-eyed peas, cabbage of some sort, whatever brings you luck, and hide away to watch the ball drop or catch up on your marathons of Twilight Zone or something equally delectable for your eyes.