Happy New Year!

I hope the New Year finds all of my friends and family hearty and hale!

I had a great one myself. D's owner got back into town, I did the Christmas thing and had dinner at KT's, and then I went off to my friend T's house for the New Year's Eve extravaganza! There were fewer of us there than in years past but life intrudes on even the most sacred traditions sometimes :)
I've really got to figure out how to get the photos off my camera....KT's girls got a salon set complete with a tiny hair dryer (1 AA battery produced an amazingly realistic sound) and curlers and they had the best time "fixing" my hair. Mistakenly thinking we were through, I started to stand up at one point and Scout said "Thit back down Aunt Holley, I got thome more hairdo to put on." Good times, good times...especially with the champagne and pizza! For some serious family time check out KT's blog, The Burrow!

New Year's at T's was a great time too. I missed last year so it was treat to get back over there. I behaved myself, didn't maul anyone, and didn't blow up any one's body OR car with fireworks. Several years ago I had a fireworks "incident" (note to self: never drink and light) in which a mortar that was supposed to detonate a football field's length in the air actually went off about 2 feet off the ground. I (and others) will forever see the frozen tableau of people running for cover silhouetted against the brilliant magenta light of an exploding mortar shell...the next year I was forbidden from lighting anything and they got me a kiddie pack to play with...think sparklers and those little white pouches that pop when you throw them on the ground! It was a bit humiliating, but I lived through it...life just seems a better place when you learn that you can't actually die from embarrassment :)

I don't regret missing the New Year's Extravaganza at T's last year (you know what I mean, 2005!). I spent it with one of my very best friends, Dana Dillard. Her chemo treatments had kept her from coming to work for a while and she was pretty much alone so I spent it with her, sitting on the couch, hanging out, and eating popcorn until she fell asleep about 10:30...just too tired to make it to midnight :) Dana died this past November 1st and it was a bittersweet memory yesterday, but one I'll treasure.

Adiós

htw