My Laptop "Blew up!"

I have been wanting to post so many holiday things and funny stuff the kids have done, etc. But, my laptop decided to take December (and the rest of its life) off. I am writing about this as a lesson to all of you, please repeat this as necessary... back up your stuff, back up your stuff, back up your stuff... I lost addresses and thus did a poor job on my Xmas cards, I lost photos (hoping Marc's IT guy at work can retrieve them) and much, much more. The light at the end of the tunnel appeared bleak... they cannot fix it... total new hard drive is needed. My loving husband did order me a new Dell, "surprise!" for Christmas. I was very excited... and then Fed Ex had the nerve to say they lost it and there was snow on the ground (blah blah). It was supposed to arrive on the 22nd of December. Still nothing... So, please stand by!