Bad boy

've been bad. I know I should have written last week. But I got busy with this and that, and the week went thataway. So it goes.

I've got the blahs. Maybe the blues. Not sure. Holidays are coming. Not in the spirit. Writing short sentences. Terse. Blunt. Enigmatic.

Different kind of holiday for us. My wife and I decided not to do gifts this year--and maybe not again. We've got the things we want. Just too much hassle and not enough need. I could use a new car, but we're not in the tie-a-ribbon-around-your-wife's-new-Lexus bracket. We've gotten a couple of things for the kids, but nothing major. And we told them not to get us anything. Just bring yourself: Your presence will be our presents. We can have fun together for a few days without all the gift-related stress. Don't need stress, don't want stress.

Lately, our weather here has been awful. Awful cold for December. This morning we woke up to -17F. We would expect that in mid-January, but this is really jumping the gun. And it's been seriously cold nearly all month. (As, indeed, most of the U.S. can say. Maybe the deep freeze that our economy is in has spread to the weather, too.)

I hope Santa has Old Man Winter on his Bad Boys list. Give him a chunk of coal.

My son will be coming up for the holidays. Not sure when. I was going to call this morning to try to coax him to divulge his travel schedule. But my cell phone is in my other jacket. On Monday, I was going to switch over to my long winter jacket. (It covers my butt, for one thing.) But the zipper wouldn't work. And I had only gotten the jacket last fall from a well-known national clothing distributor. Anyway, I had transferred all my stuff in the inner pockets to the other jacket, and that's probably where the cell phone is sleeping now. So I gotta run home to get it.

OK, the call has now been made. He'll be here for two whole days (not including his travel days--it's about 11 hours of driving from here to there--10 hours the way he drives). Two days better than none. He hasn't been up here since last Christmas, and we had to deal with a funeral then.

Some time between Christmas and New Year's or else right after New Year's, I/we (she hasn't decided yet) will go down to visit S and her husband. I'll stay at a motel with a pool, take them out to dinner and then we can enjoy the pool. Just an overnight trip--the next morning, I'll drive back home. It takes advantage of an extremely rare week when nothing is happening on the local sports scene. On Jan. 5, it all starts again and goes nonstop for another two months.

About two weeks ago, I sent S a gift card from ***-Mart. (I don't like the store, but S and her husband don't have much money. ***-Mart does, and they undercut every supermarket around. Where does the 800-pound gorilla sleep?) S wrote to me and said the card helped them buy the stuff they needed for a nice Christmas dinner--15 are coming over--and get gifts for the grandkids. She wrote, "I have been praying that the Divine would make a family gathering possible this year. Proof that prayers are answered. :) "

Also, their car seems to be dying. Apparently the problem is a cracked block; it's leaking coolant, but the coolant isn't dripping below the car. When she told me about that, I thought about my mom's car, still sitting in her garage, where it has been for the last three years.

I want to get down to my mom's place this week and talk to the local garage to see if they think it can be revived well enough for them to use after three years of non-use. It's an '86 Taurus. If it works out, I'd have to drive them up north to get it; it's about 130 miles.

***
In mid-August, I mentioned in passing that I have been writing to a new female friend in Alaska. I don't think I have t mentioned her since, but we are still writing and have gotten to be pretty good friends. She has been telling me about their plans for spending the holidays with their two sons (coming up from the Lower 48), and I've been telling her about my sons visiting us for the holidays. Small world.

If I mention her in the future--and I may--she will be known as B.