Clare’s all-town Christmas Open House last Sunday officially opened the season for shoppers here in the area. Santa arrived by carriage and began his special hours at the Santa House.

Monday evening the first snow fell hard enough to coat the ground and trees with a blanket of white.

Very pretty until I had to drive on those icy roads next morning.

Winter won’t officially arrive for another two weeks, but here in the glorious state of Michigan, particularly this part of Michigan, it always seem to be a little early, while spring on the other hand, is always a little late…

The snow melted Tuesday morning and the salt trucks were out to make the roads a little safer, so by Wednesday, it was just a memory again. Don’t worry though, we will be getting more, maybe even this week!

No snow left on the ground for the holidays yet, but the Christmas spirit is still alive in the area, as evidenced by the beautiful displays of lights we have been seeing around Clare. We even put up and decorated the tree here at home with a lot of help from the granddaughters this past weekend. Now Jack has to get busy and put up some outside lights.

The Christmas season is now upon us. I love the decorating and seeing the beautiful lights around the area, but I could do without the shopping part.

Now I really have to get busy on that shopping and hopefully, weather permitting, Jack and I will brave the crowds this weekend and try to get some of it done. As usual, I am running pretty late this year. In fact I haven’t even started!

I am just not a very good shopper and dread facing crowds and long lines. You would think I would get it done before everybody else, but unfortunately I am a lifelong procrastinator too – so I always wait as long as possible before starting.

If your family is far away, like part of ours, it’s time to think about mailing packages out. We have to send to California and Pennsylvania this year for granddaughter Mandy and grandson Mikke.

T’is the season for catalogs too. I just love looking at them, although I don’t usually order much these days. I think that comes from when I was little and we did a lot of our shopping – for birthdays, special occasions, school and of course, Christmas, from the Sear’s and Penny’s catalogs. Back then it was a real event when the catalogs arrived in the mail. No wonder they were called “wish books.” I sure used to spend a lot of time just paging through them and “wishing.”

And, just another little reminder… While you are busy planning and shopping and baking for the season, take a little time out to remember those who won’t have such a happy holiday, unless we help. Contribute something for our troops overseas. The drop off is Peyton Properties in Clare. Drop off a toy in one of the Toys for Tots Barrels, or pick up a wish list from around town and make someone’s Christmas really special.

After all isn’t that what Christmas is all about?