Exit December

It was a full day, starting with coffee, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon and the usual table banter. A bright, clear and frosty morning was within reach outside, but the cozy warmth inside felt better. It would be a non-stop affair for at least one person: Barb, who cooked, cleaned, opened her gifts, cleaned up, cooked again, cleaned up again . . . and finally got to sit down and have a piece of her wonderful pumpkin pie.

Yes, the little woman is the greatest invention yet, and I'd be lost and starving without her. Besides, there would be no one around to pray for me, encourage me, or kick me in the pants every once in awhile. Thank you, Lord, for having mercy on this old buzzard.

Last night's maudlin fare (Jimmy Stewart and Danny Kaye) churned the usual laughs and nostalgic nudges, while today's deluge of annual holiday movies provided background entertainment and music during the paper crunching, computering, texting and eating stocking stuffer candy. No sports. Only enough news to hear about the latest Terrorist attack (we need to start capitalizing that word).

One of Angel's gifts included a block of cement like grit that hid a number of amethysts and white quartz rocks. Bang, bang, bang went Angel's silver hammer - until I replaced it with my 50 year old Grandma Skinner special, a wood handled miniature that suited her perfectly (and got the job done a lot faster!). This is a part that she loved to play - the little archaeologist. She also had a block of cemented sand that had the skeleton of a T-Rex in it. More banging on Ginnie's old table! All cusioned so it wouldn't scratch the wood, though.