Hey, anybody there?

If there is someone, I'm thankful that you've hung in here and haven't abandoned this place.

I apologize for the neglect....I'm really burning the candle at every end right now as the job nears an end and the snow has the schedule turned upside down.

We've never seen so much snow here - I was born and raised in this city and it's never been like this. I mean, we've had huge dumps, but then it rains and it's done. This is different - it's never ending. It snows, then snows some more. I actually had to shovel my balcony today for fear that it would collapse! I was knee deep in snow, with ice on the bottom. And I'm a big ass wimp driver - my new (4WD) SUV's been parked in the driveway for a week. I'm the laugh of the neighborhood...."we can get out of here in our Civic...what's your problem???"

All is well - we had a wonderful evening at Dad's last night. It was small and intimate - just the way I like it. Dad whipped up a whole bunch of appies/salads and I took a casserole over and we just were really laid back/low key. We had Christmas music on and just sat around, enjoying each others' company. My brother's sobriety is huge to me - it just makes everything "right". He and Linds are the life of the party - a couple of clowns who keep us all chuckling. The annual Santa Clause parade was the highlight of the night...it usually passes right by Dad's place. As a matter of fact, in years gone by the entire parade has stopped while the participants came in for a quick "nip" before carrying on. We weren't sure if it was going to happen this year - "Santa" (an old family friend) passed away and, with the snow, we just didn't know. But come 6 o'clock, we noticed the flashing police lights down the street and, low and behold, it was business as usual. They had changed the route though, which meant Linds, Jesse and I had to run (slide) down several streets until we caught up! Linds took some great pics - I'll post them later.

Anyhow, things are good - I'm just enjoying the (overwhelming) gift from my brother - a big ass, flat screen TV! We got a laugh at one point - he told me to stand by the TV box so he could take a pic and, after we'd done so, I said "OK, now you hold up the socks I bought you so I can get one too!" (I did get him some other goodies, but it was good for a laugh/photo op).

So I hope you are well. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and send love/best wishes to each and every one of you. I bought cards but never mailed them (that's me). I never did make it to the post office...I even had some little gifts for my friends here but.....

One day it'll stop snowing and I'll actually rejoin the human race. But, for now, I'm sitting here, glass of wine in hand as I stare out at the beautiful winter scene thinking of you guys (with love).

Merry Christmas

xo