This was a Christmas I'm not likely to forget. At the end of a mellow day, and a mellow dinner with friends over, my drains all stopped up. We were all sitting in the living room watching a Lightnin' Hopkins documentary when I noticed one of the corgis staring intently at the kitchen floor. My immediate thought was tarantaula...it was definitely her "big spider" look. But then I realized I was looking at a sheet of water spreading rapidly across the floor, already soaking into the living room wall to wall rug.

That was the bad news. The good news was I was not alone when it happened. Everyone leapt into action, mopping and sopping up the flood. And friend Mark returned the next day with a big, bad, industrial strength snake and cleared the drains for me.   

I am now working on a new Christmas song...the Back-ed Up Bathroom Blues. And sending up thanks for the gift of good friends.