Holiday cheer

Yeah, I know what you're thinking, and I feel the same way. You're right, it's way too early to be thinking about Christmas. But seriously, if you were offered a sweet chocolate martini on a cold November evening, wouldn't you have visions of sugar plums dancing in your head, too?

Josie invited Corb and I over to the homestead, last night, to decorate the Christmas tree. It was a time to play Christmas tunes, torture the kids with hints about what they were going to get for Christmas...and also, a time for me to remind everyone exactly when and where I received each and every Christmas ornament.

All the bulbs had been tastefully placed on the kitchen table by Josie, for us to hang on the tree, one by one. And so, one by one, I would make a point to show off my most precious Christmas memories...some of which, um, only a mother could love.

I would hold up an ugly ceramic monstrosity, a victim of the seventies fad for homespun creations. How well I remember my mother taking ceramics classes at the local studio pottery studio. "Look! I made this in Cub Scouts, when I was eleven!"

"Oh, good. Another reason to hate the Cub Scouts," grumbled Corb.

"And look! Here's the Christmas bulb Marcia gave me in college!"

"How could I forget? You've only mentioned it every year for the past fifteen years," said Josie.

And of course, there was very special Christmas ornament. It's become one of my favorite holiday traditions. I'm referring, of course, to the hanging of the Christmas muff.

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