I took the kids downtown to see and hear "Tuba Christmas" yesterday -- a free festival of tubas, sousaphones, and other brass instruments. They were playing a free holiday concert in the lobby of the Performing Arts Center. We went with Grandma Polly and met the cousins and even Greg's cousin and her children. The kids did pretty well sitting through the concert and it was fun to take a bit of a break from the normal routine. We're so busy I didn't really have time to take the afternoon off, but I did anyways. I guess it's important to take time off for some fun too.

I have 6 parties between Saturday night and tonight. 4 down and 2 to go. I guess the good part will be getting through much of the festivities early and then hunkering down to the business of preparing for Christmas. I'm also working to finish up a data analysis project that I need to just carve away an afternoon or two to complete by Friday.