The holidays are here, and, is it just me or did December seem to come faster this year? My lists have lists, but I am vowing to remember what this season is about and focus on that. It's been a hectic year, and thus I look forward to the third week in December when our family heads down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We've been doing this for five years now. There's a lovely church we go to on Christmas Eve where there is a lovely candlelit service and we immediately feel part of the community there. I love this time when we just hang out, read, watch movies and play games. The beach has always been a wonderful reflex place for me, and it's going to be terrific to be there. We have been renting the same house for a few years, and the owners asked me to write a piece for them about how we celebrate there for the local newspaper. That piece has been fun to write as it brings up a number of wonderful memories. The holidays are great for that!

This was one eventful week. I kicked it off literally with HBO’s airing of The 25th Anniversary of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert. I tuned in expecting another ho-hum music event and was more than pleasantly surprised to see a show with great --- and unexpected --- pairings for the performances. It was four hours of fabulous rock and roll, and I confess I was dancing around the family room with the surround sound cranked up. I saw it as a brilliant way to exercise off the Turkey Eat-athon.

I got back from my trip to Philadelphia on Monday afternoon. On the drive back, I spoke with my mother on the phone and she asked if I “wasn’t cutting it a bit close to Thanksgiving to be getting home.” My reply: “Wednesday would be cutting it close!” Thanksgiving dinner requires very little ingenuity. It stars the turkey, thus the main dish is all figured out. Yesterday morning I hunkered down with my notebook of “what I made last year” telling myself that tried and true will be just lovely. There is no need to get all creative here this year. I have the cookbooks all lined up; I am sure since I never have been wise enough to use one of those cookbook protectors (I own two), the stained and splattered pages of Thanksgivings past will flop right open as required.

This is the fourth Friday that I have been traveling. It’s been a different city every week, thus I have been writing you from various hotel rooms and airport lounges. Today I am tapping away as I sit on a chaise in my hotel that feels very swanky and chic, and reminds me somehow of film stars in the '50s. I have a wonderful view of Philadelphia out my window, and I am enjoying watching the city come alive as I type. This is a “repeat hotel,” meaning I have been here before. Traveling as much as I do, I love it when I repeat hotels that I like. It just makes it easier. I remember where the pool is and how to get to the convention center. It saves time. For amusement, yesterday when I plugged in my GPS to drive here, it first told me it would take 20 hours to arrive. I thought Philly had moved until I realized that “Fiona” (as I call the British chick who chirps my directions out) thought I still was in Miami! She needed a few moments to reorient.