I'd love xmas with Kristin and avoid the family, but the simple fact is that mom is in poor health and has been for a few years, so if she's still around next xmas there's no way I can't be here.

You'll have Christmas with me next year. I'll go to San Diego with you and we'll witness the insanity together.

ND, someday you will have a perfect christmas...

I intend to make that happen every year. Maybe not on the 25th, but...as close as I can get it.

Coffee: (what? it's breakfast food to me)

I had a great Christmas morning. Mom and I slept in and had a scrumptious breakfast with Bob and Laurie (the bed & breakfast owners as well as close personal friends), and then we headed over to aunt and uncle's house for gifts. I got many lovely things including some beautiful picture frames, a gorgeous blown glass candle holder, a couple of gift certificates (Pier One and Barnes & Noble), and a painting that made me cry. My 14-year-old cousin, who is one of the kindest and oldest souls I've ever known, gave me a painting of a woman dancing. The caption? "Woman with No Regrets". On the back is a poem about having the courage to make difficult decisions and set yourself free. It is one of the best gifts I have ever gotten.

Now I'm sitting out on their back patio in the bright 80 degree sunshine. In a couple of hours we'll be eating a tasty ham dinner and eating strawberry rhubarb pie. Right now, I'm a happy woman. My only regret is not being able to share this with ND.

DH had a total meltdown because he doesn't like either of the gifts I gave him and he was afraid to tell me. Not sure what I'm going to do about it as one of them is a TIVO for the family room that everyone else is excited about.

Bleh.

Meanwhile, I have watched Serenity and started reading Wicked.

Any licorice lovers out there? Both DH and my mom love licorice, so I usually buy all kinds for Christmas. DH just opened one tub and shared pieces around. As we sucked on the buttons all our faces turned into puckers and we couldn't spit the pieces out fast enough. Reading the lable, this was "Double Salt Licorice". WHY, oh WHY? Bleh. I have NEVER heard of such a thing.

a giant fleece union suit

I want pictures. OK, so my taste in lingerie pictures is a little unconventional.

Hugs to you too, Beth.

Holy crap. Just looked out our window. Los Angeles is still mostly rumor.

Any licorice lovers out there? Both DH and my mom love licorice, so I usually buy all kinds for Christmas. DH just opened one tub and shared pieces around. As we sucked on the buttons all our faces turned into puckers and we couldn't spit the pieces out fast enough. Reading the lable, this was "Double Salt Licorice". WHY, oh WHY? Bleh. I have NEVER heard of such a thing.

My father loves these. I got him a one pound plus bag of them for Christmas. I'll take those off your hands for him, but I also think Plei might like them too.

Who the hell would have a snit about getting a TiVo? Shape up, man!

Thanks for the sewing machine advice. I've done my research and think I would like to get her a Bernina or Elna or Janome. One of those Swiss babies that runs forever. She doesn't want the computer chip, and we'll angle for the metal one. There's supposed to be a great place for used machines out in Walnut Creek near her Mom. Also sewvacdirect seems to have some good deals on close out models.

Huzzah! I have done a good deed on Christmas day and was blessed tenfold!

I had walked down to the corner cafe to get EM a decaf coffee. On the way back I spotted a woman in the bus zone in front of our house, tugging futiley to get stuff out of her trunk. I glanced at her back wheel and confirmed she had a flat.

I delivered the coffee and mulled it over in my head. On the one hand, did I really want to be a greasy sweatball on Christmas day, fixing a flat in the rain? Plus she was a young woman with a Beemer. When do we enjoy a class war except on these occasons? But she also had a baby stroller and was obviously having trouble with it and it was after all Christmas plus drizzling. No fun for anybody, and it didn't look like she was waiting for Triple-A.

So I went back down and offered my help which she gratefully accepted. She put me on the phone with her husband and he went over the BMW jack with me. It is a thing of beauty the BMW jack! Plus you get a real tire, not this fake emergency biz. Anyway, we chatted and she was British, and her husband was home with the three month old baby, and they really celebrate Hanukah, but it was rainy and she was going to the grocery to get the makings for beef bourginon.

I assured her that she would have her beef bourginon on my watch! She apologized, saying, "It's 2005, it's ridiculous that I don't know how to fix my own flat." I told her that we wouldn't revoke her feminist card, what with the new Mom credit, plus in the rain on Christmas/Hanukah. She was very charming and appreciative, and we both got covered in axel grease. But after turning the wheel this way and that four times, finally got the new one on.

Now I'm feeling chuffed with my good-deed-doingness. So I say, a good cure for holiday blahs is to do good deeds. Worked for me anyway, and I wasn't even feeling that blah.

{{MG}} I'm so sorry to hear your DH is unappreciative, it makes it so hard to enjoy the day. I hope the kids were a little happier about their gifts! Heck, you give me a TIVO and I'd be your slave for....well, a month at least.

I got really good loot. The best? A $40 gift certificate to my daughter's salon so I can get a half-body massage. WhooHoo, am I looking forward to that!

there's no way we'd be allowed to live if we tried to get them to eat breakfast, first,

Oh, yeah, I remember those days. In some ways I miss them, in others I don't. But, really, I can't wait to have grandkids because I love that unmitigated delight that children have in Christmas.

Well, back to drinking Kir Royales (my brother brought champagne and cassis to make them, niiiiice brother) and watching "40 Year Old Virgin."

MG, I'm sorry -- I'm not sure which is the worse suck, knowing that a gift you thought would be loved didn't go over, or knowing that a gift you don't like was chosen with care so you feel grinchy not instantly loving it to death.

That said, I think you should declare that the TiVo is henceforth a whole-family gift, and offer DH something that's just for him -- a nice dinner for the two of you or the like. (Anyway, we all know he'll come around to the TiVo....)

OTOH, salt licorice is pure evil, and I have no reassuring words on that front.

I've never even heard of salt licorice. And it does sound nasty, because I am not a fan of salty foods. Ugh. But then, I was a wierd kid who like hoarhound drops. It takes all kinds.