After Christmas Ramble

Christmas is over for another year. Though I'm thankful I'll not be subjected to hearing Christmas carols wherever I go for at least 11 months, I'll miss seeing the Christmas lights around town as I deliver pizzas. I'm sure the electric company will be sad to see the Christmas lights go as well...

Though Christmas went well this year, I still got melancholy thinking about my parents, as I do each year. It would have been their 63rd anniversary, and, with the help of old photos, I imagined just how that day in 1942 must have gone down.

It rained most of the day yesterday, but I'm not complaining, as that's a lot better than last week's ice storm and power outage. Indeed, I remember one Christmas in Dallas when my son was little when we didn't have any power on Christmas Day because of an ice storm.

I was able to talk to my sister on the phone, who was spending the day with her daughter. Finances are tight up there, so she had rather a grim Christmas. She and I both mentioned how much we miss the happy Christmases of our youth, when our parents were still alive.

My Christmas haul was a respectable one: the leather jacket mentioned previously, a pair of slippers, a couple of books, a gift certificate, a couple of DVDs, and bottle of my favorite cologne, a cell phone/plan, and plenty of *censored*.

I chatted on IM for a good while last night, which I always enjoy -- even though one conversation unfortunately went sour.

Today, I intend to find a way to spend the gift certificate -- I'm thinking the bookstore. I visited Amazon.com last night to get some ideas for books I'd want. Plus, my local Books a Million is having a sale today, and I have a coupon for a free drink at their coffee shop, so that should work out fine. I'll also visit Publix, as I do every year the day after Christmas, to get a tray of their excellent Christmas cookies, marked half off. I also have plans to meet with another lover this afternoon.

Later...