Is Christmas here yet???

Hello, and Merry Christmas, All!

I apologize for not checking in more often recently. I have been helping out my brother with his Santa Holiday Photos in the mall. It has actually been an equally fun and exhausting little part-time job, but I must admit that I've developed a newfound respect for my little brother and his busy holiday business. Derek has had the contract with Cheltenham Mall for probably about 5 or 6 years now. This is my first time helping out. I was drafted out of necessity, one of his regular workers "no-showed" and I've been helping since that little incident. I've had an opportunity to discover that my brother is very professional, does quality work and definitely knows what he's doing.

He couldn't have been quite so successful at it without the help of his sister-in-law (and mine), Meek. Meek is definitely the one "running thangs." She's the technical support person, manager, and all-around go-to-gal for just about everything that is important in Derek's business. And he knows it.

We had a couple of little mishaps this weekend that made things rather interesting. The digitial camera began to malfunction after Derek accidently jostled it around (didn't actually drop it, though), and after that all the photos began to print out blurry and out of focus. We had to shut down the operation for about an hour while everyone pulled together and helped out to get things going again. Corey dropped everything that he was doing and brought by the digital camera that his mother, Meek, owns. Turned out that wasn't compatible with the equipment that they already had. Meek ended up purchasing another digital camera which actually worked much better than the previous one. It was nice to see family pull together in times of crisis.

Despite the drama, stress and exhaustion, it was a great weekend.

See you soon!

DPJ