Merry Christmas to all!

Well, sorry for the long time since last post. These few weeks have been a real rollercoaster of emotions for me. First of all, thank you all who came by for Dad's birthday party. I think he was excited to see everyone, although a little overwhelmed...I was actually surprised as to how he was able to recognize most everyone! The man can't remember what he had for dinner the day before, but he knew people's faces. Those of you who couldn't make it, we know you were there with us in spirit...But you missed out on some good cupcakes!:)

The very next day, we got a phone call from Mom's oncologist who was trying to set up another spinal tap for Mom...He gave us the news that he didn't need to do another spinal tap (yay!) because he had spoken to the infectious disease Dr. that treated Mom in the hospital and he said that Mom had the eye problems because she had tested positive for West Nile Virus back in September...Wait...What? So, we had about 4 days of waiting to see the September test results that were being faxed over from the infectious disease guy because it was never noted in her chart (a result was never entered), never told to her primary, and because this is such a new disease, the CDC lists the gender, county and age of all WNV victims, and she wasn't on that list. So, eventually, we received the news yesterday that her test had actually come back negative. I had gotten sort of used to being able to blame her eye problems on something, but now we are right back to not knowing the cause.

In addition to several really annoying little frustrations in life, Mom and I both have the icky cold going around. I am cursed with too much to do and too little time, just like everyone else, and it is sort of weird trying to figure out how exactly to celebrate this wonderful time of year.

Tonight, my Aunt and Cousin moved our traditional Christmas Eve celebration down to Magnolia. We had our traditional "Hamburger Soup," some champagne, and exchanged gifts. It was a different location, but the spirit was there, and Dad got to be present. He has a hard time sitting in a wheelchair for very long, but he was able to enjoy some fudge and spend some time with all of us. It was a very nice evening.

Tomorrow, Mom and Newman and I will be cooking a small prime rib, opening most of our gifts to each other, and then going down to see Dad. We plan on keeping a few gifts so we can all open together, and hopefully he will enjoy a few bites of prime rib.

I hope all is well with you all and this holiday is magical and filled with love, happiness, prosperity and hope. I especially want to say thank you to you all for your love and support this year and during this time of year.

Blessings to all!