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Christmas in Austin - my home town, and one of the best cities in the world. Photo by Steve Wampler

I hope you’re planning on enjoying the first full weekend of December! Where I am, it feels like winter for the first time, we have dear friends in from out of town, and there’s plenty of holiday-related things to do. I’m ready to get on my hat and get out the door.

Before you do the same, grab your daily coffee and enjoy the reads on my Tumblr - and before clicking over, I want to highlight a few mentions here:

• Blissdom ‘09 has officially been announced! I’ll be a speaker at this event from February 6-9, and I’m joining such fabulous women as Shannon from Rocks In My Dryer, Amy from Mom Advice, Megan from Velveteen Mind and Blog Nosh Magazine, Marie from Make and Takes, Wendy from Sparkplugging, Meredith from Like Merchant Ships, and of course, Alli from Blissfully Domestic and Fussypants. And my goodness, tons of other women, too. Do what you can to make it to Nashville for this awesome conference! I had such a great time in October for the first one, so I know this one shouldn’t be missed.

• I love Emily at Remodeling This Life’s recent thoughts about her unexpected enjoyment of simplicity. Well said, Em.

• Kelly at Almost Frugal has a fun giveaway right now for something called GiftyBox. The contest ends this Tuesday, so now’s your chance to enter!

• Jeff at My Super-Charged Life is doing something so very cool at his blog. Leave a comment on this post asking about your favorite charity, and he’ll randomly draw a comment and donate up to $500 to the winner’s charity. The more entries there are, the more money he’ll donate. What a great way to use the internet to bless others during the holiday season.

• Karla, my dear friend from Blissfully Domestic and Looking Towards Heaven, has started a new venture called Modern Media Mom. She’ll be sharing her wisdom on all things design, blogging, social media, and gadgets in plain, non-nerdy English. I’m looking forward to gleaning from her insight!

• Finally, the One Dollar Give Project launched on December 1, and it’s the brilliant brainchild of Mandi and Tara. Each day in December, a well-known blogger will highlight their favorite charity, and they encourage all readers to donate $1 to the day’s featured non-profit. Bookmark this site and get involved!