Hello, cuzzins! Getting ready to sit down to the year-end drudgery of installing TurboTax and slogging through everything to see if we have to pay any unexpected bills before April 15. We ended up owing something like $3500 last year... really threw us for a loop. I'm hoping that doesn't repeat itself this year! I'm also preparing to process my registration for the 2011 National Genealogy Society convention next May in Charleston. I know I keep reminding everyone, and I know you're probably getting really tired of hearing about it. But I think it would be really great to have a Lovelace List meeting at the same time here in Charleston. It's a great city, and this year it is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the beginning of "The Great Unpleasantness" or "The War of Northern Aggression" as it is called in the South, or the War Between the States or the Civil War, as it is called in the history books (although there is nothing "civil" about any war!). They're already running newspaper articles about the history of the beginnings of the war, precipitated by the signing of the Articles of Secession in Charleston and other cities in December in 1860. The NGS Convention is going to have many sessions related to genealogical research into the time period of the Civil War, so not only will it be a great meeting, we all know that Lovelxxx families were heavily involved, and since we've never had a List "meeting" before, it would be a great opportunity! If you have questions about it, just send me an email. We had a wonderful Christmas here. We got the tail end of the snowstorm, so we had some nice snowfall yessterday, but no accumulation to speak of. It was very pretty, though. And, of course, it has been cold as blazes, which we're just not used to here in the SC Lowcountry. Susan's mother was supposed to drive down yesterday from Raleigh, but they got 6-8" of snow there, and since she hasn't been feeling well, she has stayed up there trapped in the snow. We're going to drive up to get her tomorrow, and Susan will drive her car back with her and her dog. We'll have an extended visit for New Years. My mom continues her long, slow decline into old age. Her spirits are great, and her mind is okay, with only an occasional brief trip into la-la-land every so often. I saw her last weekend, and we had a great visit. All in all, things are going well. We all have jobs that, while they're not ideal, we can deal with and earn the money necessary for us to live well. And for that, I'm extremely thankful, because I know there are so many out there without. I hope you all have a wonderful remainder of the holiday season. I'm off tomorrow, but back to work on Wednesday, with another day off Jan. 3. Then it's a good while unitl the next holiday. Y'all take care! Peace, Part of the Tree, Greg