| 2003-12-23 Well, This Should Be Interesting. A couple of weeks ago, I had lunch with YoungerSister. When she discovered that I didn�t have any plans for Christmas [in December], she promptly invited me to join her and her family. I had to give it some thought. If you�re not in the know, our family celebrates Christmas in July. That works for me. Actually, it works quite well for me. We also gave up celebrating Thanksgiving together, unless you count the last two years. However, I don�t think funerals are a normal Thanksgiving tradition, though I could be wrong. Anyway, five of my seven siblings spend both holidays celebrating with their in-laws or whatnot. The only single folks in the bunch are DearestSister and I. DearestSister used to work on those days but now spends them with her kids. That leaves me. Some years, I�ve had a boyfriend and spent the holidays with him and his family. Other years � when I was single � friends invited me over. As the years have gone by though, the invitations have ceased. Mostly because people are married now, have kids and/or are taking care of elderly/sick relatives. To make a long story short, I usually spend those holidays by myself. And, over the years, I�ve come to enjoy it. I always have a nice, peaceful, restful day. So, when YoungerSister invited me over this year, I had to mull it over. I wasn�t sure if I wanted to exchange my nice, peaceful day for a day, which involves, well, people. People I don�t really know. Of course, I know YoungerSister (YS) but I don�t really know YSHusband or YSMotherInLaw. And, I�m not going to get to know them unless I start spending some time with them. Clearly. No offense to any of the above people, but what really cinched the deal for me was LittleNephew (he�s 3). I love spending time with LN, and the thought of being able to share some of Christmas Day with him won me over. (The fact that YS and family only live 20 miles away now also has something to do with it.) So much so that I found myself out Christmas shopping last night at a store with toys and stuff. Ugh. Really, Christmas shopping is so much easier in July. Let me just repeat that. Christmas shopping is so much easier in July. You guys would have been proud of me. Hell, I�m proud of me. Shopping. After Work. Only a few days before Christmas. In a store with toys. With very LOUD children climbing all over the place. Me. Shopping. And, I lived to speak of it. It was unexpected, last-minute shopping too. See, in case you haven�t caught on yet, our family does Christmas in July, so there�s no Christmas going on for me in December. Maybe a couple of friends or something, but I usually take care of that ahead of time. Once I decided to take YoungerSister up on her offer, I knew I had to bring LittleNephew a Christmas present. It just does not make sense to a three-year-old why his aunt would show up on Christmas without a present. No sense. Neither does explaining Christmas in July. And, of course, I was planning to bring YoungerSister and YSHusband a host/hostess gift. However, that would mean that I�d bring a present for everyone except YSMotherInLaw. That�s not cool. So, yeah, last minute shopping. In other news, there�s this guy and he wants to date me and he�s driving me nuts! Just for the record, if you go stomping around all up in my personal space, I will run away. It�s not �mysterious�. Or �intriguing�. Or �unique�. It�s a simple concept actually. A demonstrative one at that. See, if you walk up to me and get too close, I will back up. The closer you get, the farther I will move backwards. Especially when I don�t know you and I�m not sure that I want to get to know you. Which, of course, excludes all of you. Anyway, I need my space and he�s one hell of a smotherer. That�s a real quick way to lose points. Just saying. Oh, I�ve got a joke for you. Good chance you�ve heard it before, but I�ll tell you anyway. (Q:) What�s brown and sticky? (A:) A stick. your thoughts? seed flower