I got the following e-mail from my friend Annie over the weekend (which has been slightly paraphrased) …

Hello everyone,

As some of you know and some of you don't - I volunteered with the Red Cross to go down south to help with the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. I got called yesterday and will be leaving for the New Orleans area tomorrow morning, December 12 and hopefully returning about December 27. Yes, I will be missing Christmas at home but I keep thinking, who am I to complain. Most of these people don't even have a home anymore.

Everyone who knows about this has been unbelievably supportive. I really want to thank you for that. Hope to see all of you at the Holiday Open House.

Take care,
Annie

That certainly gave me some perspective as I worried about whether or not I'd have enough time to do the baking, card writing and shopping during the home stretch to the holidays.