Ah! Two friends in D.C., but they don't know each other so I didn't bother to try to point them at each other. But I'll sit here in Texas and hope that they will each go out with their loved ones for a nice meal in the same fine restaurant ("fine" is not to be confused with "expensive") and perhaps their eyes will meet across the room and they'll smile their pleasure. . .

Have a good stay there, Rap!

Me, I wasn't online yesterday much but Mom understands--I was busy finishing shopping with the kids (their gifts to their father and for each other) and then we returned home to fix dinner for friends who came over in the late afternoon. We roasted two chickens and warmed bread sticks (okay, they came from the store, but they are great with extra garlic powder and dipped in marinara sauce) and tossed a Cesare salad and a friend brought her great green beans (bacon and onions added) and a multi-grain rice based dish, and we topped it off with herbal tea and christmas cookies.

You know it's one of those low-pressure great get-togethers when you can run a holiday movie in the background, and every so often the conversation stops and someone says "this is my favorite part" as Santa nudges the child down the chute, everyone laughs at the scene, then, because we've all seen the movie many times, we go back to talking.

The cat and dog are both feeling better, the weather is STILL warm and dry. It doesn't really feel like christmas outside, but indoors it is shaping up. No tree this year (no room and no money) but we've set up a christmas train on a large drop-leaf table and will put gifts in the center area and let our main engineer (my 13-year-old) keep the thing on the tracks. (It's an inexpensive made-in-China holiday train, not Lionel as has been discussed by MOABites elsewhere).