Dining Room Christmas Decorations

Thanks for all the cards, photos and newsletters. Our dining room mantel is festooned with them and, from his nearby vantage point atop the china cabinet, our woodland Santa figure gazes over at them approvingly.

What WE Want For Christmas

It would be a tight fit under the Christmas tree, but we still are hopeful! This is the house we have been trying to buy for the last six weeks. It is a brick Italian Villa with big rooms, tall ceilings and a great curvy stairway, and it sits on a hill on the other side of Lebanon.

The house had been on the market at a high price for four years but the owners had to give it up to their bank in September. The bank cut the price a lot (though still a big stretch for us) so we put in a bid and, lo and behold, got a purchase contract. There are problems to work through (title, legal description, expiring Fannie Mae incentives, etc) so it isn't a done deal but we are really, really, trying!