I'm a mess. Ho ho ho.

It's been almost a month since my last entry, so first I'll do a quick list of bullets of what we've been up to, for those of you keeping track of my life (ahem, Mom). Then we can talk holidays.

Thanksgiving 08: What a fantastic holiday. We hosted members of our "chosen family" at the house this year, and it was just wonderful. My friend Tony the Chef did the most amazing things to our turkey--brining in brandy, shoving garlic & rosemary under the skin next to the meat, stuffing with apples and oranges. It was one of the most moist and delicious turkeys I've ever tasted. All of our friends brought delicious sides and snacks, actually, because they are classy like that. For my part, I baked 2 loaves of dill bread and 3 pies: pumpkin, pecan, and apple with a lattice-top crust. I hope to get caught up on photos over the next week or so, but suffice to say they all came out gorgeous! Good food, good wine, great friends--GREAT holiday.

Seattle Trip: The first week in December Mac and I went to Seattle to visit friends, do some business, and enjoy some proper chilly weather. Not that I'm complaining about our fabulous SoCal weather, but it's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it won't stop being 80 degrees outside (the weather has since changed, thankfully). This trip was PACKED, and as usual we ran out of time before we got to do everything or see everyone. We got a lot of great business done, striking up some fun partnerships and strengthening our Seattle press relationships. We got to see some of our favorite people on the planet. And we ATE. Oh, my God, we ate our way through that city. Someday I'm going to write the Mac & Dinah Guide to Seattle, with a list of must-sees, must-dos and must-eats. The newest revelation was The Black Bottle in Belltown. YUM.

Family Portrait Time: Yet another separate blog post in the making, we took family portraits with Mac's family at Sears the second weekend in December. We wore coordinated outfits and posed uncomfortably (at one point I was laying on my stomach). Mac's family all look happy and natural in all of these photos. I look like a robot.

Which, okay, I'm actually checking my calendar to remember what all we've done this month. We took the LA division of our awesome staff out to a holiday dinner, after video chatting with Scott and his lovely wife. The whole team chipped in and got us a Wii Fit. I'm choosing not to take this as a personal commentary on my need to lose weight, but as an amazingly intuitive and thoughtful present that we actually had every intention of buying for ourselves. They also got us a game that you play with your butt. Awesome. Seriously, we employ the best people on the planet.

We also hosted a holiday party for one of our clients, which went off perfectly and inspired a separate blog I need to write about throwing parties. Because, for real, I pulled that thing together in about a day, had tasks for everyone to help me with, and did the whole thing BEAUTIFULLY and under budget. I'm not bragging; I'm just good.

Everything else has just been a mad scramble to get prepared for the holidays. I always stress out about Christmas, every year. What do I get? Is it too much, not enough? Why do I put it off every year? Christmas cards still haven't gone out--it might be a New Year's/Wrap Up card this year. Plus I'd love to do a "Best of 2008" mix... but I never even finished or mailed out my Summer 08 mix. Oh, I'm a mess. Ho ho ho.

So that brings me up to date. The checklist of future blogs I just mentioned includes: photos, Seattle guide, family portraits, how to throw a fabulous party, and Best of 2008 mix. Yeah, we'll see.

Thanks for checking back on me, even though I haven't been updating. I appreciate everyone who reads Puffpiece, and hope you're all enjoying a fabulous holiday season!!