It must be Christmas. Last night was our annual L.O.T.E party with our visit to the Martin City Melodrama. This year's production of Rudolph The Recycled Reindeer was absolutely terrific, only marred by the the L.O.T.E.'s insistance on performing their own tootling version of Deck the Halls when they were introduced. We promise we will never, never do that again! We will leave the music to professionals from now on. Thanks to Jeannie and Jon and the rest of the cast for the hilarious evening. (And the dessert afterward at The Cheesecake Factory didn't hurt.)

In honor of Rudolph the Recycled Reindeer I did my themed Christmas tree with, you guessed it, reindeer. Actually, I chose the theme last year during the after Christmas sales, and I must admit that the tree looks pretty good. Between what I already owned and what I bought over this past year, I have a herd of about three dozen deer. I couldn't stand it any longer and bought a tree with the lights already strung. I had to promise my daughter I'd get rid of one of my other trees, since she thinks I have too many. I went one better--I discarded my two big ones--a tippy big fiber optic thing and my 7 1/2 foot space hog.

I have started another blog with my book reviews/comments/rants so will probably not include too many here. But then I've only read one book since the last post--too busy cleaning house and cooking for the party.

There is something about mechanical creations that hates me. They just take one look and give that evil bwahahaha and my life becomes misery. It apparently was the vacuum cleaner's turn this month. In the midst of all the cleaning it died--may it rest in pieces.