ok. so mm got up early on xmas morning to stuff the stockings (santa can't think if everything, you know.....) and now she is thinking about going back to bed fora bit.....sleep is a gift that we can give ourselves everynight- if only we would organize ourselves to take advantage. i resolve in 2003 to get more sleep..yea,yea,yea, its a bit early for resolutions, but sleep is on my mind now.....

i have just returned from letting the dogs back in- there is a dusting of snow, and i am happy that i do not have to go anywhere for the next few days unless i really wanna......i may be FORCED to go back to jbeth for a spanish phrase book, as mine has disappeared despite days of searching. therick steves spain book has also disappeared, i may just copy down a few things from the older version at the library. now that christmas is here i must really start getting ready for spain- digging out the suitcases, plotting a minimal wardrobe, printing out driving instructions, finishing the itinerary.......we received a new set of tickets in the mail yesterday-i have not yet compared them with the old for changes..i have read recently that the gugenheim closed its little las vegas 'hall' in order to financially retrench. i trust that they will not close the bilbao site, or at least not until we have toured it.....

last night at supper (peel&eatshrimp and crab legs) no one talked about dad, though i am sure that everyone was thinking about dad. mother always counted out his shrimp- she read a specific portion of shrimp on a low cholesterol diet once and stuck to it despite my protestations....the last time he was with it enough to be with us on christmas eve, she had to peel his shrimp for him, as he couldn't remember how to do it.....we did not go to church last night for christmas eve service- everybody was tired, and even that reminded us of dad- one year when stuart was home we had to go in 2 cars. after it was over, we all piled into different cars, and no one really counted heads in either car- we got home to discover that dad was in neither car.........luckily the pastor had gone up to his office to sit by the phone- assuming that someone would call and claim this semi-senile gentleman.........dad was with it enough to say-' no harm, no foul' when we apologized.......we still chuckle about the christmas when we forgot dad....

mean mamma would like to wish all of her gentle readers a very happy holiday season, especially sister sheila in colorado- i have written down your travel advice in my little notebook, and we will surely raise a toast in your honor while we are in barcelona. if sparkling wine comes up on this trip, we will also toast to mamma's friend jane, whose joie de vivre is always so much more so with a bit of bubbly.....