well - I'm depending on the 'cat to help me keep a sense of balance this year. Since my weekends are being taken up with street theatre that is paid for by a chamber of commerce we have had to do a few bits we really would rather not...such as ending the opening every day and the carol sing with "Let's go SHOPPING!". {as the town crier last weekend I had to keep annoncing that "there's a sale going on NOW at ..." yeuch!} Thank goodness that the joy the little kids get from our performances does outweigh the disgust of the commercialism. But after a couple of weekends it's gonna be pretty hard not to "bah-humbug!"