Well, hello again! I hope that the recent holday was as great for everyone else as it was for me. Yep, the Widdershins folks had an un-traditional Thanksgiving feast, and it was WONNNDERFUL! Pappy Widdershins and Mammy Widdershins were neither one too keen on the idea of pigging out on turkey, dressing, and sweet potatoes for days, so.... YoursTruly suggested that we just have hamburgers. Mammy Widdershins perked right up, and said, "Hey, that's a good idea! I'll put some turkey burgers in my George Foreman Grill!" So that's what she did, and they were yummmmmmmmm-mmmieeee!! If I had been thinking at the time, I would have asked her to thinly slice some sweet potatoes and deep fry them into sweetpotato chips. Maybe next year.... She probably won't be too keen on that idea, though. See, Mammy and Pappy Widdershins have become more and more health conscious with each passing year. I really think that by now, just the very idea of deep fried ANYTHING could potentially cause an aneurism, an apoplectic fit, or some equally disturbing catastrophe.

Oh, and the holiday was even better for me, because I actually took off work starting on November 16th! Yep, I used a week of my accumulated vacation for the five work days from November 16th to November 22nd, and then we got November 23rd and 24th off for Thanksgiving, so today is my first day back, shackled to the grindstone, after 11 days off. (Eleven days off for the price of five is a deal that I'll take, with great relish and mucho gusto, anytime.) Surprsingly, my Overseer, the Walkin' Boss, has so far not been too heavy handed with the lash. I hope I don't jinx myself by saying that! Still, my back is very pleased, and my deepest stripes have almost totally healed! Now, if I can just avoid getting very many splinters from this old, rough-assed oar!

I actually got an extremely early (for me) jump on my Christmas shopping last Friday, the day after T-Day. Some of the things that I wanted to get from the T-Day sale flyers were already sold out, too! But, then, chances are that they were just teasers and the store only had one or two of each of those items anyway, so I snagged reasonable facsimiles and made the best of it. Then, this morning, mere moments ago in fact, I continued my shopping online. LLBean.com is a truly blessed website! I may never need to go to an actual store again! But, then, I would miss finding my bargain socks, wouldn't I? :-(