cheers

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Desperate retailers are starting to fill the television airwaves with holiday cheer and invitations to consumers in tight straits. The turkey has not yet hit the Thanksgiving table and yet Christmas is coming and bank tellers are saying, "have a nice holiday" without being specific about which holiday they mean.

Today, the holidays seemed ever more apparent as my wife and son took off for Pennsylvania to visit over the weekend with my daughter and her fiance. A cheerful time I hope before my daughter returns here Sunday for a doctor's appointment on Monday and the house will once more be filled with the galumphing of my son, kitchen sink water running and general urgings to "bring in an arm-load of wood."

In the meantime, it is quiet save for a gentle, chilly breeze rattling in what remains of the leaves on the trees.
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