So I have successfully survived my first Christmas at home in too many (well, according to my family) years. It started out looking like what I imagine many Christmases in the US and Canada - and possibly the U.K., but probably not Australia or N.Z. - looked like:
We skirted the cars in the ditch and arrived safely and, despite the family's best efforts, we survived it.
But one annual tradition I'd forgotten about was the magnetic noel.
My grandmother has magnetic letters spelling "N - O - E - L" on her refrigerator. My sister, by tradition, changes it to spell "L E O N" as soon as she walks in the door at Christmas.
Grandma, after some minutes, hours or days, notices this, grumbles and shifts letters back to her preferred order. My sister usually changes it again immediately, and so the battle rages.
This year, for the first time, Grandma was left to wage battle as more than just Leon invaded her house:
And once I saw the LONE Pine had made an appearance, I decided it was time to make my Christmas wish known:
But somebody else wanted
Who was quickly labeled
for thinking he could get one in this economy. By then somebody had decided we were all just
Yes, in these tough economic times, you'd better hope you can say,
Merry Christmas, from our family to yours.
