OK, OK, we all know that you are sick of Christmas right now. Exhausted and recovering from it all.

But the reason we are talking about Christmas in January, is that we have a plan to make next Christmas completely different. Stress-free, in fact.

Here’s what you need to follow our plan:

A small notebook that fits easily into your purse or pocket.

A large box and a hiding place for it (like a closet or a basement corner.)

What to do:

They say that it is the thought that counts, but if that were really the case, there would be no 4 a.m. sales, doorbusters, or Black Fridays. Obviously, gifts are necessary for most folks. But should they be *thoughtful* gifts? Or something you had to trample someone to grab?

Right . . .  now in the afterglow of post-Christmas, we can admit that gifts should be thoughtful.

The idea of giving a holiday gift to someone is that it is a message of love. It says: “I know you and love you. I know what you like. what you are interested in, because I am paying attention when we talk about you. I know that one of your favorite things is such and such. When I saw this such and such, it made me think of you. I know you will like it and know that you are important to me.”

That’s a lot to say for something you grabbed at the last stress-filled minute – and out of someone else’s hand to boot!

So, let’s go Christmas shopping all year long.

In your little notebook, make a list of everyone you want to buy a Christmas gift for. Keep it with you in your purse or pocket.

You know that as you go about your daily business, you run into things that remind you of this or that loved one. “So and so would really like that,” you say.

So, buy it. Right then. Buy it and wrap it, put so-and-so’s name on the tag, and put it in your hiding box. Cross so-and-so off the list.

By June or July, you will have most of your Christmas Shopping done! Look at those still left on the list and think about them a little harder. Have lunch together and chat about “things”. Try to elicit some likes and dislikes you don’t know about yet. It will make it easier to finish your list.

By Thanksgiving weekend, rather than getting up at 3 a.m. to make the doorbuster sale, you’ll be sleeping in, sipping hot chocolate and thinking about cookies, handmade decorations, cards, and other good things you will have plenty of time to make and enjoy. A person of holiday leisure!! How cool is that?

And there are other benefits too. You won’t be racking up those credit cards or robbing piggy banks because your gift expenses spread out over a whole year – and you took advantage of sales and seasonal closeouts too. Nobody wants a nice wool sweater once Spring is on the way, and the stores close them out. But that sweater will be well appreciated next December.

You won’t be dealing with crowded malls and impossible parking. You’ll be helping the economy to even out.

And everytime you visit your hiding box or go over your list, you are thinking about those loved ones – in a loving way. And that is, in itself, a gift.

OK, so thanks to my own need to overextend, I can’t blame my holiday fatigue on anything else. We added quite a load to our holiday season this year!

We had planned to spend Christmas Day with good friends. But they are in Albuquerque, and when it comes right down to it, Mark and I are out of gas. The vehicles have enough to get us there and back, but our personal tanks don’t. We are craving a day of doing nothing at all. I hope the dogs know how to cook.

I talked to my sister yesterday morning. You know her – the queen of calm? Well, it was 7:30am and she was out frantically looking for gift tags which were all sold out everywhere she went. Her voice was tight and I just know her hair was curling.

What have we done to Christmas? How did it get to be about stress and hurry and speed and worry?

The whole idea was about love and family. Remember?

When Mark and I first moved to Santa Fe, we were without the huge family Christmas gathering for the first time. We thought it would be good to do what the Santa Feans do and go for a walk on Canyon Road on Christmas Eve. There were little  bonfires everywhere and Groups of people caroling around them. All of the Canyon Road neighborhoods were lit only by the candlelight of farolitos. Tones were hushed, cider pots were steaming, and we felt that we had gone back in time a hundred years or so.

I think we all need to go back in time – back to when we had some  time – to think. To think about the people we love and to cherish the moments we have to spend with them. To laugh, to sing – to be jolly for goodness sake.

I have an idea how we can forget about Black Friday and Super Saturday, sales at four in the morning, etc., and I will share it right after Christmas – because I know you are all too busy to read, or think right now.

Meanwhile, I wish you all the joy and love you can handle. Ho Ho Ho

Every business in LaTienda – the center where the Art Garden is located – must have a give-back program, a pet charity if you will. Well, ours is really a pet charity – animal rescue organizations. We are starting with our own favorite – Siberian Husky Rescue.

We sponsored a very successful adoption event yesterday, and I got to meet Gentry in person. I have seen him on the Rescue Site and been taken with his sweet face and the way his ears have floppy tips. Yesterday I met him in person and I fell madly in love. He did not get adopted and I have made it my personal project to find this guy a forever home. He reminds my of my own Chevy – all love and personality, dark brown bedroom  eyes, and all.

I would take Gentry home but he does not love cats and my current pack of three Huskies is perfectly balanced. So I am going to find him the right home – and I am asking for your help with that.

He is 5-6 years old, completely trained, neutered, and well behaved. He is full of personality and devotion, and would make the perfect companion for anyone who would love him back.

If you, or anyone you know who loves dogs might be interested, please email me at

gallerydsf@cre8it.com

and we can “talk” about it. Include your phone number and we can really talk about it. I will be traveling to Arizona and Northern California at the end of  January and could even bring him to you if you live between here and there.

The procedure is an application and a $135 adoption fee which go to the rescue association. If money is an issue, there may be some help available – let me know.

Here is the link to Available Huskies at Siberian Rescue:

http://www.nmsiberianrescue.com/availabledogs/available.html

Let’s start by finding a forever home for Gentry, and then maybe we can help the rest of them!

We came out of the Albuquerque Art Show Friday feeling pretty wiped out. Long days and not enough sleep lately. But we were in a lot better shape than these two . .

We were worried at first that there had been foul play of some sort – and we ran up to see if they were breathing . . .

Santa just groaned and said he was ok – just not sure he was going to have enough energy for the whole season this year. Getting older, you know. Luckily, he had not hit his head on that bench when he collapsed – just his hat.

Frosty was ok too – just a little worried about the temperature – which was a balmy 60º.

We left them to their rest and headed for ABQ Uptown for a snack at California Pizza Kitchen (I love CPK). There were shoppers everywhere, so it made us feel better about the economy.

I had to buy another desktop computer for the gallery, so we went here

It was a zoo in there. Consumer confidence is half the battle, so we were glad to see this. And I did my part, of course, with a new Mac Mini.

I was driving near Abilene, TX, coming down from Lubbock to where H84 meets I-20. It was dark because I had gotten a late start on the 8 hour trip from home to Abilene. All of a sudden, I was mesmerized. Every couple of seconds, a different section of the horizon would light up with beautiful red lights. It was like some very very big holiday display. I never did figure out what it was that night, but on my return trip – in the daylight, I discovered it was huge Wind Farms.

The turbines show red lights at night – probably for the sake of small planes. But it has been shown that birds are attracted to red lights that burn steady and Bird+wind turbine is not a good formula – especially for the birds. So, the lights going off and on could be for that reason?

This is not new technology . . .

But I love the gracefulness of the new white turbines. I know there are some folks who consider them an eyesore, but I love their grace, and I really love watching them all turning. And the fact that they are a great alternative power producer makes me happy too.

And then, there’s the fact that they remind me of pinwheels – which just make everybody happy. Nobody doesn’t like a pinwheel. They’re happiness icons – just like ice cream cones and cupcakes.

These are my kids, the canine contingent anyway . . .

They are dang sick of waiting for the Fur Family blog and for me to talk about them a bit, so I will share this story – it’s a good one.

First, the introductions: That is Sky, the princess and pack leader (Alpha) on the left. Chevy in the middle, our latest rescue, part Malamute, and just 1 year old (we think). He is named after his Dad’s current garage project. Teddy (Bear) is on the right. We got him from Siberian Husky Rescue a year or so ago. He is a lover – sweet as can be.

They are all sitting at the fence in their very big run. The wood and rebar was added when Chevy was added, because he dug under that fence a few times.

Behind them you can see the edge of a very big Juniper that grows in the middle of their yard, and if you look to the right, you can see the track they have worn into the ground by tearing around the tree.

Well, Mark called while I was on this trip and asked if I was sitting down. “Oh no,” I thought. “What have they done now?”

Mark was drinking coffee in the kitchen and checking the kids out the window. They were out for their morning playtime. He noticed Teddy and Sky looking up into the Juniper tree – like something was really interesting. We discourage the terrorizing of squirrels and birds, so Mark started out the door, wondering where Chevy was – why he wasn’t interested in the tree.

Thinking biscuits were imminent because Dad had opened the back door, Teddy and Sky ran to the fence. Biscuits are more interesting than anything in trees.

And then to Mark’s surprise, Chevy stepped delicately down from the tree!! He had climbed the tree!

“So, did he fall out?” I asked.

“Nope. He was really quite graceful about the whole thing.”

So, now, we have another place to look when Chevy goes missing. I had all the cameras with me, darn it.

People often ask if I get bored taking long road trips. I enjoy backroads and watching for photo ops and interesting doors and windows, and . . . But, the truth is, there are long stretches of open road that are a bit plain.

So, audio books have been a big part of my travel since they first came along. Before that, I would try to luck out by finding a story being read on the radio, but you can imagine how iffy that was.

Now, with my iPhone, I can download any book to listen to, and I don’t even have to deal with CDs or cassette tapes.

This book, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, is the best piece of literature I have encountered in a very long time.

This is a great book to read, but if you are in the habit of listening to audiobooks, get that version instead – unabridged. It will give you 18+ hours of pleasure because the actresses who read the parts of the different characters are so excellent.

The Help is the story of a group of woman in 1960’s Mississippi. Half are “colored” maids and the other half, self-absorbed young Southern belles. Their stories interweave and fascinate.

I will not ruin any bit of this book by trying to give you a synopsis or excerpt. You can get that on Amazon. I will just tell you that as you go through your day, you find yourself thinking about these women as if you know them personally – and you really care what happens to them.