A toast...

Weeks and months unfurl effortlessly. This usually means that life is going well, and it's true. The family seems to have what it needs, pretty much, and in these lean times we have been spared the pinch that many others have suffered. We are well, and happy in our pursuits, daughters, Ann and me. We have friends we care about, who share their lives with us, and keep in touch. There's beauty out of our windows every day.

This is shaping up like a Thanksgiving dinner toast, I suppose, but it's late for that feast. Here we are rushing towards Christmas. The girls will gather in Charlotte, and I with them, for Christmas. New Year's week their party goes on, but I'll need to return to the Georgia coast to work, and miss some of the house party. I expect it will be pretty crazy; a real flop house. It might drive them a bit batty, because we have no wifi set up, and no means to play a dvd. Yikes! How can we have Christmas without 'Miracle on 34th Street' or 'It's a Wonderful Life'?

Which reminds me of a Christmas Eve not so very long ago, when Kelly and I took ourselves to see Johnny Depp as 'Sweeny Todd', and had the theater all to ourselves. I guess we are a bit strange, like the Addams family. Mmm, meat-pies!

With each passing year, it's more obvious to me that it's what we do with each other that matters, so much more so than what we give each other. Beyond what we need to feel nourished, clean and warm,  it's the conversation, memories and dances that hold us together, friends, family, and all. It's my wish that your lives feel charmed in this way, too.

Happy holidays.