Merry Christmas

Whew! What a day! Mom made cinnamon rolls today (not from scratch, but I'll forgive her this time) and then I was on some sort of sugar high (between those and the hot chocolate) until church when I got this terrible post-sugar hangover. Kudos to anyone who has never experienced the post-high blood sugar hangover--you have been very sheltered. The service was nice, teaching the true meaning of Christmas, which is so often lost. I got lots of nice gifts, mostly practical, like a scarf and gloves, a PJ set, and a carrying case for my laptop. But I also got some literary stuff like the new Writer's Market (I'm gonna give a shout-out to Amanda to thank her for introducing me to this wonderful necessity for anyone with this slightest hidden desire to publish), a subscription to Writer's Digest magazine, yet another Borders gift card (this is my 3rd this year, but they'll be put to good use), and a book edited by Becky Bradway (an Illinois girl). Then there were the "just for fun" things: a Hershey's cookbook (Lord help us, I predict another sugar hangover in the near future...), a crocheted doily from my Granny, and a Glenn Miller CD. Yes, that's GLENN Miller, the big band guy. Laugh if you want, friends (if anyone's even reading this), but I have a dreadful addiction to big band music, especially the late, great, Glenn Miller.

Now I know this seems like a lot of gifts, but these came from like five people or something.

We had a nice little soup supper in my grandma's garage. Few of you have ever witnessed or experienced a Cather family get-together of any sort. And any of you poor souls who HAVE participated in said get-togethers I'm sure would never admit to it. But I digress. So my uncle, divorced for I'd say around 18 years, just got a girlfriend, and she's the sweetest thing, but she's so shy it's not funny. In fact, I think our family intimidates her, but God bless her, she's a brave woman.

Anyone who knows my aunt, Vickie, will agree that she's not what most people consider normal. And she can't help it, I mean, she has Autism. So anyway, I didn't hear what went wrong because I am pretty deaf, but Vickie started screaming about something and for a minute I thought my uncle's girl was going to faint in her soup. She came through okay. If I were her, I'd run and never look back. She must really think a lot of him to keep coming back to these get-togethers.

There was only one other major social faux pas tonight, and that was our fault. My mom bought Vickie (yeah the same aunt) a "Rootin' Tootin' Reindeer" that passes gas while singing Christmas carols (there's really no polite way to say it). Mom had no idea about the farting reindeer until Vickie pushed the button and the vile thing started its sinning... er, singing. The family was horrified at first, but then they all loosened up and admitted that it was funny. There were a few wrapping paper fights also, for old time's sake, and we all had a holly jolly time.

If anybody else had an eventful Christmas, I'd like to hear about it. If anyone is beginning Chanukah with similar experiences, I'm all ears. Until then, I hope you all enjoy whatever holiday you're celebrating this year. Stay safe and keep it real.