Hey!  Look what I got! Thank you guys so much!  I guess if you stick around long enough, you achieve legacy status!  I am truly humbled. Thanks!  Now go congratulate the other winners!

2000: Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with String
2001:  The Bride was a Real Bitch
2002:  Here We Come A-Caroling
2003:  Lesbian Porn

WEBSITES OF THE DAY

Watch Jib-Jab's new Santa Movie

The Emissary

Sheila Videos
"See Sheila Run", "Meet Barkley"
"The Green Monster", "Sheila's Tongue"

Today's Search Engine queries:
(how people find this journal)...

• "they were flying for me" Challenger
• full moon syndrome
• dirk bogard
• "laugh in" costume
• costco bagel calories
• gout / big toe / photo
• brownies that are chewey
• wack-a-mole
• fugazi bread
• vagina monologues designer georgia o'keefe

CHRISTMAS LETTER.  Once again, I've posted our Christmas letter on the Internet.  It may not be as personal as holding it in your hand--but it's a lot prettier on the net! 

GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER

20 December 2004

Actually it wasn't a reindeer, it was a Lexus and she didn't get run over, she was driving--but when you are trying to keep to a Christmas carol theme and spend the day with Grandma--what better title to use?

Last night we had the second in what we hope is becoming an ongoing tradition.

In December of 2003, my mother came up to get me and the two of us picked up my cousin Peach and her husband and we drove to the Alzheimers facility where my aunt has been for the past two years.  Meeting us at the facility were Barb's three kids and we had lovely visit, and then returned to Peach's house where she fixed dinner for all of us.

We decided at that dinner that we cousins don't get together often enough in a small group like this.  There are four of us female cousins--Peach, Kathy, Kelly and myself--and all of our husbands get along well and it was Kathy who decided this should become an annual event--the cousins Christmas celebration.

And so we skipped the Alzheimers facility part of the trip (my mother will visit her sister tomorrow) and all gathered, this year, at Kathy's house, where we sat around munching taquitos and nachos and then some delicious home made enchaladas, topped off by what I assume is now my "famous" cranberry cake...I made the same cake I "invented" last week for Walt's office party, when the first cake I tried to make was such a miserable disaster.

The ride to and from Kathy & Fred's house was a bit hairy.  There is heavy, heavy fog blanketing the Sacramento Valley and just last week there was a multi-car pile-up when the cars hit an unexpected dense patch of fog on I-5, so I really didn't enjoy the drive in either direction, but the dinner itself was lovely.

Kathy's daughter, Karen, lights the candles

I will admit that I had a big case of guilts when Kelly said that after dinner we'd all open presents.

DOH!!!!

I didn't realize we were all going to be exchanging presents (nor did my mother).  I had brought a gift for Kathy, as the hostess, and a gift for Peach because we usually exchange presents, but I had nothing for Kelly and her husband, and felt bad when they gave me a lovely gift.

However, Peach, who collects salt and pepper shakers, absolutely loved the ruby slippers salt and pepper shakers that I found for her.  I didn't realize when I ordered them that they came with their very own little yellow brick road plate to put them on.

Kathy commented that 20 years ago she would never have guessed that we would be sitting around enjoying each other's company so much.  Our paths have diverged over the years, but as we have grown older, we have come to appreciate the value of the family contacts and to enjoy each other's company very much.  We've weathered many family tragedies together and it has drawn us closer, and made us realize that imporance of appreciating what we have while we have it.

So next year, I have volunteered to host the group at our house and the following year, Kelly and Denton will host at their home near Reno.   Given the time of the year and the iffy weather at this time of year when driving over the mountains can be unpleasant, the rest of us decided to make it a moveable feast and all go up by Amtrak.  It may be the end of rail traffic in this country to have all of us riding a train together, but it should be great fun.

In the meantime, I am still basking in the glow of having, over the past several years, rediscovered these cousins of mine with whom I was so close as a child.   I am glad that as the years pass, our friendship seems to grow stronger.

Mood

PHOTO OF THE DAY

While it may look like it, we did NOT all confer and decide to wear red (I was wearing red too)

 
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