Happy Holidays

Winter Solstice Party on Friday went off well. The house and I were clean in the nick of time. We had more than enough food, without enough table top space to set up with snacks. Guest brought delicious snacks and drinks to add to the party. The turn-out was much smaller this year than the rsvp list, but most of that was due to two other last-minute events that I was aware of.

Christmas Eve, we went to Pell City, Alabama to visit June. We got to see Jerry briefly, but Kim was a no-show.

Christmas Day, we spent family at my mother's flat. Huge meal. Everyone took home left-overs. My brother's family brought my neice's boyfriend with them because his mother, a nurse, was working all day (and most of the night). Seemed like a nice lad who fit in very well with the family. I can see why my brother and sister-in-law like him. He's very much like my brother and nephew in personality. For some reason, my Mother found it necessary to open three bottles of wine, most of which was still untouched when we left. Part of the reason was, after she opened the Merlot, the cork was dry and my first glass tasted awful and smelled very strong of vinegar and what I percieved as cork-taint. Then, after I rinsed and dried my glass thoroughly she opened the Cabernet Sauvignon for me. When I set out the other glasses, I smelled the same thing. Everything had this soapy, vinegar-smelling film to it so I rinsed everything down as quickly as possible while she was freshening up. Everyone's wine was fine after that. I said nothing about the glasses. The rest of the Merlot went untouched (and it still may have been off - remember that dry cork). We finished of the Cab and she opened a bottle of Pinot Noir for good measure before everyone left.

Yesterday, we had the traditional exchanging of some gifts. We now have a very nice coffee maker again, upgraded from previous models I've owned with a programable time, clock, and thermal carafe (so coffee doesn't have to cook down to something bitter just to stay hot). Now I can shop for any whole bean coffee I choose and make the occassional cinnamon coffee without being a slave to one manufacturer's pods that we can only get from one source locally.

In the evening we went to the airport to meet a friend of Monster's who lives in Chicago now. He's gone from retail sales to realestate and is doing quite well at it. He owns half of a very nice modern duplex in the heart of the city. He is also a man with very little free time so when there was a chance for a two-hour spot to visit between flights to visit, everyone jumped at it. As always, there was a lot of catching up to do between the guys and not enough time. There were some cool photos on the iPod to share, updating on the Blackberry to do, and new photos and MPEGs to make.

Today, it's back to work. I expect this will be another nearly non-existant work week. Only three days to punch the clock and clients probably won't be keeping us busy until after New Year's day when everyone returns to work.