The Terrible Catsafterme

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Monday, December 24 was the first Christmas Eve that I had worked since 2000. Although there were a few store emergencies (one that 383 will likely never forget) and a meeting with the Key Retailing folks, the day just absolutely flew by – and by noon, my boss John told me to leave. I got out of there about 12:30pm and headed home. Briana was at my house by herself while Ashleigh was working a Noon-6:00 shift. She had put the Christmas cards up on the door and wrapped one of my gifts and was rarin’ to go. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s beginning to a look (and feel) a lot like Christmas ’round these parts. Although the snows haven’t returned – at least any that felt like sticking – and it got up to nearly 50 degrees at one point, the bitter cold is now back, the stores are packed, and holiday celebrations have begun. My first Christmas party was a nice dinner with my work cohorts at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen on Wednesday, December 19. We had a great turnout and lots of great food. I had some of the alligator (for the first time since 2000) and calamari (squid) appetizers. The squid was awful chewy. For dinner, I went with the seafood platter and rounded out the meal with their famous banana pudding. There was a gift card drawing and I got a $25 card to Kohl’s.

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Christmas 1995 was unique in that it included the only Christmas get-together that we ever had at our Woodman Park Apartments. We were still pretty much a ‘Christmas Eve’ family, opening our gifts together on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas morning. Since Mom and Dad had been divorced since 1989 and Mom had been out of the Winterset house since 1994, we had had (and would continue to have for the next few years) and mixed bag in how we celebrated the holiday. But it was this Christmas Eve that started the trend of holding Christmas Eve at my place. Read the rest of this entry »

I always thought that my Mom’s immediate family typified the All-American family unit. Her parents’ marriage endured until death did them part, her siblings remained close into their adult years, and all of their children became friends as we continue to see each other at all the major holidays…and often outside of them. Now that we have introduced the fourth generation (Ashleigh and her co-horts), it is clear that even these children have strong family ties. Read the rest of this entry »