Tis the season

I ought to be doing a lot of different things right now, but I'm not. Instead I am sitting at my computer blog surfing.

I could be sitting at my computer working on the family newsletter so that it actually gets into the various 'opt-in' inboxes before our friends and family celebrate their respective holidays. But that requires me to remember when I actually sent out the last issue and exactly what I had said in it.

I could be emptying and reloading the dishwasher, but that would require a degree of manual labor.

I could be lounging on my couch watching whatever I stumble across, but chances are that would mean I'd be fast asleep before my husband got home tonight from his haircut appointment. We've lived her for 7 years. The man still uses the same barber 40 minutes North. I have given up encouraging him to be adventurous enough to find a new guy.

I could be tidying up the toys scattered about - but again, manual labor.

Instead I'm sitting here resting my tired toes. My father, you see, is not allowed to go Christmas shopping on his own. It's not a health issue. It's a "poor taste in gift" issue. As soon as I could recognize that Mom would rather a ring than a vacuum I was sent off to help guide the man's choices. He's gotten much better now. He knows he can't go wrong with jewelry. Sometimes he needs a nudge to pick out the right kind, but more often than not he's really ok. It's just become a tradition. Each year just he and I go out for a day of shopping and some lunch. We were going to try to squeeze in a movie but our list just didn't allow time. It's a nice day out with Dad. It's not something we get to do often. We had a nice time. I'm just foot-weary now.

So here I sit, surfing and sipping diet hot chocolate with a candy cane melted down into it. You think my green and red stripped peppermint stick negated the "diet" part?