Merry Christmas!

I spent Christmas, as usual, at my parents’ house, in New Mexico. My brother is nearby, so he and family were there, as usual. For the first time, however, my sister was able to make it out during Christmas. She brought her kids, but not her husband. My flight west had a layover in O’Hare, so I was delayed two hours, and got to Mom and Dad’s at midnight. A number of people were already asleep. I visited with Dad for a bit, then headed off to bed. In the morning, the bathroom was occupied when I woke up, so I left my bedroom door open and waited. When the bathroom door opened, a strange woman walked out and said, “Hi, I’m Dee.” She was a friend of my sister’s, who wanted to visit that area, so tagged along. After much drama (my sister had specifically told her that if she came along, she had to leave us to our family holiday, and not interfere), Dee left for the airport in a huff early early on Christmas morning. She declared she would never speak to my sister again; my sister was OK with that. You can imagine my confusion, however, at the concept of my sister bringing a woman along with her for Christmas. It would have made for a humorous scene, had I brought a male friend along with me! As it was, the topic never came up, so my sister is still uninformed.

Also as is standard, my mother had food covering every surface of the house, and I spent most of my time awake eating. And chocolate, pies, cookies, and junk food were heavily accounted for! As it is, I now weigh 171 again. Five days for Christmas, and I’ve gained back all three pounds that I spent three months losing. As I mentioned earlier, at this rate, it is going to take a really long time to get those 10 pounds off.

Everyone made out well enough in terms of loot. My gift from my sister is always uninspired, so I did not feel guilty that she was less than exuberant about what I got her. My nieces and nephews were thrilled, and that’s the important demographic.