It can equal stress, but it's much like coaching, I would imagine. I love it, it's rewarding, it's a thing I really truly belive in and love doing.

Speaking as a Brownie leader (2-3rd graders), the girls are pretty much great. There is one who is kinda nuts, but several who are awesome. It's the parents, the planning and logistics, the Girl Scout office, and the forces of nature that make it stressful.

The difference with coaching is that you have far less logistical issues. Everybody knows going in that it's going to be a pretty heavy focus of time and energy from February through May. So in some ways the heaviness of the commitment weeds out any halfassery.

Preseason you practice at least twice a week, and then during the season you often have three games a week (which also have warmups beforehand etc.)

So basically you just have to send out the schedule and remind people of practices and games and they show up.

The big logistical issue is rounding up people to volunteer to work in the snack shack. The home team is responsible for that every game and that is where it's probably more like leading a Daisy troop. Fortunately, the coach doesn't organize that - that's why you have a Team Parent.

However, when you're drafting your team you are also drafting the parents so if you don't get a good mix of parents with your kids then that's your own damn fault.

After the snow yesterday, it rained and melted all the snow. I'm pleased.

We've got very very light snow flurries in Athens right now. Very light. But still, snow flakes in GA!

Are Casper and Dillo excited? (Didn't you say you were going to take them somewhere -- a mall, maybe? -- where they make snow, so the kids could play in it? Now you have homegrown snow!)

We bought a little tabletop tree last year, and my mom gave me three more tabletop trees, including the ceramic one she made. I plan on putting two tabletops on the mantle with some tinselly stuff and stockings, one tree on a table for gift-puttage, and the ceramic one on the sideboard.

There's no WAY I'm putting up a big tree with 4 cats and a dog that chases them, even if I wanted one, which I don't.

Anyhoo, M is Jewish on his mom's side, so the ornaments are all my grandma's pretty glass ones, and then Star Wars and dinosaurs and owls and robots and snowflakes. I have no unifying theory, other than SPARKLY and FUN.

And they will get put up next weekend, right before M gets here, and come down after our NYE party.

I've done very large amounts of laundry this morning, which I should now be putting away, but I think I am going to take a nap/go back to bed instead.

Heh. They're running an Arrested Development marathon on IFC, and I just heard Ron Howard's voiceover say, "Nobody's making fun of Andy Griffith. Let me just be very clear about that."

A little bit of Opie meta.

I have all my out-in-the-weather errands done, and am going to settle in for warm grading with the TV. It's all easy grading -- no essays -- so even though there's a ton, it should go pretty quickly.

We did an impromptu tree-trimming at ND and Kristin's a few years ago. It was a total blast. I am all for cocktail party trre trimming.

We did that last weekend! It was awesome. I made hot mulled cider (with rum, of course) and Becca made pasta primavera and Sean helped decorate the tree. Then there were games. I adore that tradition.

So we had our annual Xxxmas party last night, and it was a total blast. Our friend Fionn came dressed as a stocking in hysterically wrong fashion, and our inappropriate gift exchange was a hilarious success. I should have taken pictures of the gifts.

Coffee: If anyone checks my Facebook, you will see Fionn's costume. The best part is that everyone keeps thinking it's Drew (Fionn is basically Drew 10 years ago). At our wedding reception, multiple people commented on how nice Drew's brother was. It didn't take long to figure out they were talking about Fionn.

ETA: ION, I cannot believe our first wedding anniversary is in three weeks. Where did that year go?!?

I've decided my tree will wait until Friday; I don't want to have one in the house for three weeks. Two weeks will do. That means I can do laundry and write today before going over to make dinner for my folks.