Sunshine and lollipops...Laura Ingalls and melted Flip-Flops...

A quaint winter scene my mother put together in her picture window using pieces from the Chrismas Tree Shops collection. The tree was donated, and made by me. I showed Bobby this picture and he thought I went to Santa's Village. That's probably the only reason I've featured this picture. Wow, I'm a jerk.

Good evening ladies and gents! I do hope your Christmas was as Merry as mine, although I'm sure only 35% of you had merriment due to drug inducement (like me).

Yesterday we went to see my grandmother in the hospital, and she is doing very well. It was really good to see her, my heart breaks for her right now. She insists that she will never pick up another cigarette...and I hope that's true. She's in good spirits, and had us in stitches talking about her doctor "Joe Personality," or as the nurses call him "Smiles." She has fallen into that category of older people who like to tell you way to much about procedures done to them...but she's also great for gossip about the other folks in the ICU. Not that we know them, but the fact that she's alert enough to gather the 411 for us makes me very happy.

I will warn you that I am typing under the influence. If this blog doesn't make sense...too bad. My poor cousins were unfairly subjected to my ramblings last night. I'm 70% percent sure that I may have fallen asleep a few times during our chit chat. After reading my cousin Nancy's blog about last night's conversations of Little House on the Prairie (a family FAVORITE), as well as a good jaunt into our childhood as we reminisced about "Big Flame" and Bobby in a Superman outfit...I remember some of it...but not all. I know I laughed quite a bit though, per usual with the lot of my dad's side of the family.

This year my immediate family decided (due to the impending nuptuals of my sister this summer) that we would do a "grab" and put a $50 limit on the gift. I will say this is the first Christmas that I am not losing sleep over bills to pay (I'm losing sleep over the pain in my back...but not as much thanks to the spiffy meds). At any rate, I got my dad, who is historically the least easy person to shop for...in this entire universe. He likes things that are practical, which is fine. Usually one of us ends up in tears because we thought we'd found "the gift" that would make his Christmas. I'm not kidding...the phrase "I hate this" has been uttered more than one crusty Christmas morn. The grab actually worked to my advantage because he told my mother exactly what he wanted (some ridiculous air pump thingy that (no pun intended) he was "pumped" to recieve) and that's what I bought him. Just to kick it up a notch I assembled a fleece blanket for him with the Red Sox symbol all over it. Amazingly enough-he loved it. Now don't be down on my dad...I don't want you to think he's a tyrant (a la the Burgermeister Meisterburger in Santa Claus is Coming to Town) and hates all things Christmas. He's a good guy-and gave Peggy one of the best gifts she's ever recieved. If you guessed a muzzle, you're wrong. He got her the Scene It game, Harry Potter Edition. I just played with her, and she's really good at it. My sister Elizabeth got me and knitted me a beautiful blue scarf (I hear through the grapevine that there's a hat to go with it but she thinks I would think it's ridiculous...and didn't send it to complete the set...rude!), a Napoleon Dynamite keychain, and the first season of the Gilmore Girls on DVD...VERY kind!! I have one more day on required meds, so tomorrow will be the Gilmore marathon. (An aside note, at some point Christmas morning - around 4 am - I woke up and put on the Gilmore Girls from my DVR...the one where Rory dresses up like Donna Reed for Dean...don't ask. At any rate, when I woke up at 8:30 the thing was still on...I guess it repeats over and over again if you don't give it direction. I thought I was just dreaming about the Gilmore Girls...and believe it or not...that scared me. Though I am concerned about the fact that I'm listening to the show to get to sleep!)

All in all it was a pretty fab day. I didn't get to see my cousin Lauren and her family, and this was the first Christmas without Elizabeth...and yes, I believe it was a bummer. But maybe next year she'll get to come and play in Maine...or we'll go back to Florida. I have to say that I love getting together with my family, and I may bitch and moan when the idea comes to light...but in the end I always leave happy and looking forward to the next edition of watching the traditional, critically acclaimed, video of my grandparent's 50th anniversary with the infamous "jump rope burn of Bobby scene," or a rousing round of "Remember when Nelly married Percival and they had the twins (the original Bennifer), or when Laura was 19 months pregnant and Almonso was on some mission with Pa and the land was going through a drought and Laura had to water the crops or they'd lose everything for sure and she ended up dehydrating and Doc Baker made Mrs. Olsen give him the giant blocks of ice to cure her on Little House on the Prairie" game with my other cousins. It may be the same thing everytime we see each other, but the bottom line is we always laugh, and we always enjoy each other's company...even, well...especially at the expense of someone else:)

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown!