Why Christmas Will Not Suck This Year

The main reason is because our family is not giving gifts--yaay!!! Well, that isn't completely true. We did a grab bag name drawing thing where everyone buys one gift and gets one gift. The only immediate problem is that no one set a money limit on it, so the person who drew my name may be buying me a diamond necklace while I am out getting a schlocky oven mitt for someone else. This will have to be solved.



Meanwhile, I had a great time in Arkansas, as always. Here is my brother Brian (Big Orange) getting ready to sample that wine bottle. Yum. There was a good bit of that kind of sampling going on. The sous-chef Gretchen (d-i-l of Big Orange) and sous-sous chef (diamond necklace hopeful) tried to keep things organized.

The meal came out pretty good. Note sweet potato dish at far end placed near my seat at all times. My diet behavior was in a word, deplorable. Frankly, I should be taken outside and shot. My brother has a great big long granite island in the kitchen, big enough for a person to lie down on, and I suggested it could be used for liposuction. There's a garden hose outside and I'm sure we could have looked up the procedure on the internet. I even volunteered to go first. Buncha pansies.

My dad is 94 and doing okay. He doesn't hear well all the time and we sometimes have exchanges such as:

Becky: "Dad! Remember when you used to travel to Chicago on business?"

Dad: "I wear glasses about half the time."

So I guess we're in the holiday season, dear reader. Try to stay calm and keep the weapons stored safely.

A bientot

love,

becky