Greetings from Louisville! I hope you are all having wonderful holidays so far. I, myself, slept until noon and awoke to find a plethora of gifts to wrap, including the ones that I had brought with me for the family. For all my worries about my parents and my dad being out of work, you'd never know it from the ridiculous spread under the tree. As usual, they went way overboard and, even though I don't know exactly what are IN the boxes, from the sheer number of them, I know they spent a fortune on me and my brother--and on each other, as well. An example: PART of my brother's Christmas stash includes four brand new tires for his car and a new car battery. That's just PART of it! I don't know whether I should be relieved that know that my parents are actually doing well enough to afford those things or if I should be worried that they're spending beyond their means. I know the holidays aren't about the gifts, but it makes me feel incredibly loved to know that they are willing to make a few sacrifices here and there so that they can afford to give us nice things. THAT'S what it's about, I suppose...the love. And we're all about the love here at HHW.com, too, aren't we? Yes, we are.
Presently, more love is being cooked up in the kitchen upstairs. I smell the wonderful aroma of green beans (home grown and canned), broccoli casserole, homemade creamed corn and frying chicken. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME!

We'll have our chicken dinner tonight--my parents, my brother and myself-- and exchange our gifts from one another and tomorrow, assuming my brother is feeling well enough, we shall all trek out to Lexington to my mom's parents' home, where we will exchange more gifts. My dad's parents were supposed to sup with us tonight, but because of their age and my brother's flu, we thought it best to postpone our dinner with them until he's not even remotely able to get them sick. My grandfather, who is 85 years old, did stop by today (yes, he still drives!) and dropped off some homemade fudge, cookies and peanut rolls (which are my dad's very favorite thing in the world, so my grandfather makes them for him every year). He's truly just about one of the sweetest men you'd ever hope to meet in your life and we're very lucky to still have him with us. In fact, I'm lucky enough to still have all four of my grandparents, and for the first time in 27 years, I am able to give THEM a gift for Christmas, so that excites me.
TOMOVOZ: The state bird of Kentucky is the red cardinal, but we do have lovely bluebirds here, as well. I hope you're having a lovely holiday down under.

MBARNUM: I agree about Whoopi's show...bleh! And King of Queens is a hoot!
BK: I hope you have a wonderful party tonight. I wish I could be here to enjoy with you and your guests...unfortunately (well, FORTUNATELY), I'll be opening gifts and eating chicken tonight.

To all my friends and loved ones here at HHW: I wish you all the happiest holiday possible. You're an amazing group of people and the best is all you deserve, so...MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HANNUKAH, HAPPY KWANZAA! I'll speak to you all soon...