I had Friday off due to the overtime I had worked last week. Went to Starbucks to catch up with everyone. Saw Jack, Lenny, Wally, Vern and Jack #2. Jack and Vern gleefully told me that Robert had kinda gotten kicked out for soliciting. The manager quietly told him they had gotten complaints from customers about him doing his sales pitches. He threw a hissy fit, said it was because he was Jewish and said he was gonna call the president of Starbucks and then stormed out and hasn't been back since. Everyone is actually relieved to have him gone. He was a soul sucker. Jan is still in Mississippi for a couple more weeks. Lenny bought me a coffee.

Brad came home early from work. We had pizza, watched a movie and exchanged gifts. He got me a huge box of chocolate and a perfume set, some Burt's Bees lip balm and said another package is still on its way. I got him a coffee grinder, a book about cheese, a day planner, and some chocolate.

Went home to Columbus for Christmas. The visit was too short, and the driving too long.
But it was still nice. Glad Brad got to spend some time with out nephews and niece.

Got in Saturday mid-afternoon to my mother's.
Freshened up a bit then headed over to my sister's place.
Ensley was coy at first since she didn't really know Brad. But then in a short while Ben and Ensley both took to Brad, to open the boxes, get the toys out of the packaging, and fix anything that wasn't working to their satisfaction.











We exchanged gifts. Ate wedding soup, spinach dip with bagels, my mother's macaroni and cheese (which I picked on day and night while we were there...), Italian sausage and peppers, and then a pumpkin roll for dessert. It was getting late so the kids started taking their baths and getting into their pajamas.




I'm still getting over my cold and all snotty, so soon after we got to moms, I went to bed.

My sister called Sunday morning about 7:30, the boys had been up and playing with their toys since 6am, and Ensley was still asleep. So we put on robes and drove over. Dylan got the gameboy he wanted and played his Pokemon game all morning. Ben loved all his toys and tried to get his sister in the spirit of things by bringing over her toys for her while she was still waking up. Then they played with her Barbie oven set together. My sister's sons are the sweetest boys. That sister of theirs can pull their hair and make them cry and they won't touch her. Always going out of their way to be sweet and helpful. The oldest is Dylan, he is 8, I like embarrassing him. He hates it when I hug and kiss him, so I just smother the boy! Grab him up and not let him go.

We left around 10:30, my sister needed to straighten her house because she was having about 30 of her in-laws over for their Christmas get together. This was the first year for her to have it at her house. So we went back to mom, and I napped on the sofa with Brad for a bit. Eating and watching TV. Then went back over to my sister's at 4ish after the family had done the gift swap and was wrapping things up. My sister did a good job. Everything looked really good.

The next morning Brad and I packed up to go back home. Mom had me go through some clothes she was getting rid of. She gave me a leather with fur trim coat that she bought herself from Lazarus in 1971 after my father told her no. It makes me love the coat even more. Plus in all my early pictures she was wearing this coat. I wore it to work today.

We met my sisters family at a McDonalds for breakfast and to say goodbye before heading back.

We played songs I loaded on Brad's mp3 player through the stereo, and I read my book Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. Good book, I want to read his other stuff now too. Really recommend it. I heard good things about it and should have already read it, but just gotten to it now.

At work now, doing an upgrade for Yale, it will be a slow process since they are so massive, so I had a moment to make a post while I have them running on another screen.