It is so good to be back home! The idea of a palm tree green Christmas is delightful after a week in cold country. But, it is a cool rainy overcast day here in St. Thomas. I feel sorry for all the tourists who came in yesterday. Not a good beach day today.

I arrived in Wisconsin last Weds. night to very cold and windy weather. Of course I had to go shopping as soon as possible. I wallowed in the big Barnes and Noble in Green Bay! The warm crowded stores were nice after the long walk in the cold and wind from the distant spaces we found in the full parking lots. Mary wasn't too keen on going to the Mall the weekend before Christmas but I had a good time. Loved all the Christmas decorations.

Woke up to a light snow coming down on Friday at my daughter's in De Pere (outside of Green Bay). A dusting of snow was all we got until I got back from my short overnight jaunt to Detroit, where it was -13 degrees with the wind chill factor. BRRR!! It wasn't snowing much in Detroit, but what was coming down was whirling around in the wind making it seem much worse. Downtown Detroit has certainly changed since the last time I saw it over 10 years ago. Lots of renovations and new buildings. Gorgeous Christmas lights everywhere. There is even a skating rink.

As my plane landed in Green Bay Monday night I felt like we were landing in the North Pole with all the snow. I got the white Christmas I was asking for and then some - about a foot of snow came down before I left De Pere Tuesday afternoon. Milwaukee didn't get the snow but it was so cold that we sat on the runway Weds. a.m. as they thawed out the steering!

So stepping off the plane yesterday to a humid 87 degrees, I had a smile on my face and breathed in as much of the moist air as I could to help my dried out sinuses. I was so glad to be home I didn't even get upset when I realized my luggage hadn't made it. I wasn't surprised as I had to run from Concourse E to B in Charlotte and was the last one on the plane. I'll get my suitcases up this evening when I pick Steve up. He's been visiting family in Kansas City.

I did do some reading while I was on the plane. I read Witch Season: Fall by Jeff Mariotte. It is the second in a series and that was very evident. References were made to the previous title, Summer, so many times that I felt like I needed to have read it to really grasp the seriousness of Daniel's death. Fall is about Kerry's desire for revenge against the witch that killed Daniel. She learns her craft from Daniel's mother, a witch who lives in a spell created home in the swamp. The five characters are all in their first year out of high school and still feeling the affects of seeing Daniel's murder the previous summer. Fall ends with Kerry not knowing who the good witch really is. Now I need to read the third one, Winter. This was a good airplane book - fun reading but didn't require a lot of concentration on my part. The covers on this series are very appealing with young women's faces. They all have a head wreath of flora from the season. These are part of the Simon Pulse line and I am sure they will be popular with the teens who watch Charmed and are intrigued by witchcraft. I think most teenage girls are at some point. I remember my brother bringing home witchraft books from his college library for me when I was about 12 or 13. I don't remember anything about what I read, just that I was fascinated by witches at the time.

Also did a lot of lap reading with my 15 month old grandson but I doubt you want to hear about the number of times I read the same truck book over and over again! :-)

All for today - need to get some Christmas wrapping done before Steve gets home.