The lyrics to Blues Traveler's song "Christmas" pretty much sums up my emotions and hopes for this day...

Comes the time for Christmas� and I really have to ask�
If this is �feeling merry�, how much longer must it last?
I wish a one-horse-open-sleigh would come carry me away
but I�ve been waiting here all day� and one just hasn�t come my way.

Now excuse me if I�m not being reverent but I was hoping for a miracle to hold me,
wash me, save me from my righteous doubt as I watch helpless� and everybody sings.
If it�s Hanukkah or Kwanza� Solstice, harvest or December twenty-fifth�
"Peace on earth� to everyone� and �abundance� to everyone you�re with.

Comes the time for Christmas� and as you raise your yuletide flask
there�s like this feeling that you carry as if from every Christmas past.
It�s as if each year it grows... it�s like you feel it in your toes�
and on and on your carol goes� harvesting love among your woes.

I want to buy into �the benevolent�� and I was hoping for a miracle to hold me, wash me,
make me know what it�s about as the longing in me makes me want to sing�
Noel or Navidad� season-celebration or just �the end of the year��
Christmas can mean anything� and I mean to keep its hope forever near.

At twenty below the winter storm it billows, but the fire is so warm inside�
and the children, while nestled in their pillows, dream of St. Nicholas�s ride.
And how the next day they�ll get up and they will play in the still-falling Christmas snow�
and together we�ll celebrate forever� in defiance of the winds that blow.

My God in heaven now I feel like I�m seven� and �the spirit� calls to me as well�
as if Christmas had made the winter warmer, made a paradise from what was hell.

As if a cold and frozen soul is warm to love by loves own hand�
So goes the prayer, if for a day �peace on earth� and �good will to man�...

I wish a one-horse-open-sleigh would come carry me away�
and I�ll keep waiting through next May� until Christmas comes my way.

Our day was odd. It turns out Philip really wanted to buy me presents... but since I knew money was tight for him, I forbade it. But I should've let him do what he wanted to do. So I think we'll file for a Xmas-extension with the elves...

Philip and I had dinner with nautical man Allan and his adorable father, Gary. They made a holiday ham (which may or may not have been inspired by Varla's cabaret show of the same name) gourmet au gratin taters... snow peas... but my favorite part was the split pea soup. Yum.

Gary gave us a book of old photographs of Louisiana architecture... one we've always loved looking at in the bookstore.

We all watched the dvd of THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS which I'd given Allan... and then I felt like going home so Mr. Hanky could pay me a visit...

While driving away on Dickory, entering Earhart Expressway, a drunk man's little red car side-swiped us... no one was hurt. But since my bowels were fully I nearly had an accident of my own!

We realized when we got home that we'd left the book that Gary gave us. We'll have to get that back soon so it can grace our coffee-table.