I'm Back

I'm back in Virginia from visiting my mother in California.  And as is frequently the case, I am sick.  I think it has something to do with flying in crowded airplanes (Delta) and walking through crowded airports (ATL).  I have been flying in airplanes since the 60's...and, yes, that was many years after jets were invented, thank you very much, but we are crammed in tighter and thrown a childproof bag with less than a tablespoon of peanuts and expected to enjoy our trip.  I pack my own food, fill a travel mug with tea or coffee and fend for myself.  It is the crowded seats and miserable leg room that gets to me.

I am tired and don't feel like writing anything, but I am a trouper.  The show must go on and all that.  I only wrote one post while I was gone.  I was going to take pictures of the yucky, rainy and cold weather in Southern California when it was sunny and warmish here.  I didn't.  You may even be able to discuss climate change with me as the coasts have apparently switched weather patterns.  But not today.  I feel yucky.  The word for sick in Tonga is "puke" , pronounced pooh-kay.  Granted, I just have a cold and not the flu so it doesn't EXACTLY fit, but I feel puke nonetheless.

   

Lee picked me up from the airport and as we drove home I noticed that he had gotten a good start on the holiday decorating.  We have 2 out of the 5 kids/spouses coming so must decorate.  There is a giant wreath on the shop and he had made a star out of lights on the swing set.

   

Even the inside has gotten a good start.  The tree is up, though naked. 

   

The intent is to go through all the ornaments and discard those we will never use again.  We did quite a bit of that before we moved here, but it is time to be a bit more ruthless.  Not a speck of ruth shall we show.

   

We only have one sad, lonely handcrafted stocking.  The kids all have theirs, except for Tara, who has come home for every Christmas.  The rule is that if you don't come home the stocking is sent to you so that you can coerce someone into filling it.  I mean, for Santa to fill.

 

So we need to go through all the decorations, but I am coughing and want to go back to bed, so it will have to wait for another time.

And I wish you the

   

 

of the season.