Merry Christmas!

Tweet It was really great to be able to wake up early and watch my nieces and nephews crowd around the Christmas tree and rip the wrap off their gifts to the sound of Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow on the Ipod. It was a snow-less day -- unseasonably warm, actually. Quite nice.

My brother and I took advantage by riding down to a neighbors' farm to check out his buffalo herd -- the kids weren't interested in straying from the house since they had their new Ipods and other electronic goodies.

The herd of buffalo reside about three miles from my parent's home -- and apparently belong to the actor Dan Ackroyd.

Our next stop was a stroll along the streets of Marshall -- reminiscing about the shops that were there when we were kids and how the town has -- in the last few years -- sprung back to life -- with three restaurants, a coffee house, grocery store and several art galleries. Boom town!

As I write this, I am relaxing with my youngest niece and nephew -- they're playing Twister -- in between whacking each other with their new stuffed toys -- I'm vowing not to eat any dinner tonight -- since my mom cooked one of the best Christmas meals I've had in a long time. The corn casserole at lunch was awesome!

Internet....a bit faster!

Tweet
A couple of days ago I mentioned the slow internet speed at my parent's house. Turns out there was a new option available and my parents decided it was time to get something a bit faster than dial-up. Satellite-delivered internet. It's not real fast, but it is fast-er. The technician arrived in late morning -- working in 20-something degree weather -- that felt even colder because of the wind. By the end of the day though, my mom was making Skype calls and surfing the net from any room in the house with her new wireless connection.