Christmas Day 2011
Saturday, December 31st, 2011
Christmas 2011 was back in line with Christmas traditions of Murphy yore. For the first time since 2007, we were returning our family gathering to Christmas Day itself. It made for an incredibly full and fulfilling day, although in the end, I wondered if this much activity and fun was best spread out over more than one day after all! But no matter, it was what it was. And it was a blast from start to finish. I had spent the night at Denise and Aaron’s house, so this was where my Christmas morning started. Read the rest of this entry »
Although Kim Darby never really disappeared from film for any signifcant length of time, to the casual filmgoer, it would appear that she made the film True Grit with John Wayne in 1969 (portraying a 14-year old at the age of 21), and then disappeared until 1985 when she starred as John Cusack’s mother in Better Off Dead. She was making films and TV appearances in the interim, just nothing I’ve ever heard of. Ten years later she’d show up yet again in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. 
With the way things were shaping up throughout December, I had much to look forward for the 2011 holiday season. This would be Silas’ first Christmas, and although at less than 8 months old, he wouldn’t really know what was going on, there was bound to be ample cuteness. This was also the first Christmas that I would be spending with Jamie, and we had made plenty of plans to spend time together. Although I would have liked to have her at my family gathering on Christmas Eve night, she was spending that evening with her folks and had allotted quite a bit of time for me on Christmas Day. 
I made it through the Thanksgiving holiday okay, occupied with the company of many friends and family members, but the Christmas Spirit was slow in coming. It has been about a month and a half since Jamie and I had parted ways, and she just wasn’t someone who was easy to get over. I had begun to try my luck on the dating scene, with no luck so far. I planned to continue this way and did so with a couple of additional dates. As for getting ready for Christmas, I just wasn’t having any. I didn’t put up a Christmas tree this year (for the first time since 1994), I was slow at starting my shopping, my Christmas Newsletter, and I was dramatically behind on my website. Things just weren’t fun.