**Strike that; reverse it.

Greetings, my fellow port swillers!

Today starts the beginning of Ol’ Robbo’s holiday mini-vacation, but with all the running in circles with my hair on fire that I’m going to be doing over the next few days, I already feel like I’m going to need another one in order to recover from this one.  But I at least have a couple minutes in order to jot down a few odds and ends here:

♦  Our deeply-neurotic and mentally negligible spaniel has been going absolutely to pieces, what with the constant stream of holiday visitors and deliveries.  (It’s been feeling as if UPS stops by approximately every five minutes.)  She’s become such a nut that she’s taken to cooking off when the mailman stops at our neighbors’ houses.  I am thoroughly sick of her conniptions, as is everyone else here.  (UPDATE: She must have read my mind because she upchucked while I was in the middle of typing this.)

♦  I have to cut some fresh greens tomorrow with which to spruce up the wreath on the dining room table.  Since the one in our yard more or less gave up the ghost, the only pines from which I can get boughs in the neighborhood are those which stand at the main entrance into it.  I maintain to myself that I only prune them a very little bit, and that I always make sure to do so on the sides nobody sees, but I still feel very slightly like I’m doing something I ought not to do.

♦ Alas, I’ve received a couple of Christmas cards addressed to the Mothe from friends who evidently did not get the news of her passing.  I’ve felt obligated to write back to them and explain things.  It’s not at all a pleasant thing to have to do, and I feel bad for them.

♦  Speaking of which, I also keep getting surveys and questionnaires addressed to her from Medicare.  (In fact, I got one yesterday that referred to her primary doctor by name and invited her to rat him out if she believed he wasn’t giving her good service.)  Wasn’t it the Gipper who said something to the effect that government-run medicine would combine the efficiency of the post office with the compassion of the IRS?

♦  In case you’re wondering, no, Ol’ Robbo did not participate in his office “holiday” party this year.  I did, however, make a point of wishing everyone a Merry Christmas as I went out the door yesterday.  (Let them make of that what they will.)

♦  Also in case you’re wondering, Christmas Dinner at Port Swiller Manor will feature roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and two veg as always.  Why? Because that’s The Way Things Ought To Be.

Whelp, I had better clean up the dog’s mess and get on with my other tasks, too.  I’ll not wish you all a Merry Christmas just yet because I think I’ll have time and opportunity to do so more fully later.