Holiday Fun with Doro

Dear Neighbors:

It's December 29th and 2011 is nearly over. For the past week, I've spent the majority of my time at my mom's about an hour away from where I live. She lives in a senior citizen's mobile home park where she has plenty of friends and things to do. In fact, her social life is more active than mine has ever been. My favorite part of driving through the park to her home is the duck pond down the street from the entrance. 

The ducks waiting to be fed -- no, they didn't move out of the way!

I was able to spend plenty of time with my nephews. It's not easy to get them away from the computer these days (gee, I wonder where they get that from?), but they're always up for a game of Monopoly, Uno or Memory. For a five year-old, Evan is a real contender at the Memory game! 

At one point, my sister decided we needed to go to Chuck E. Cheese. I played Guitar Hero for the first time!

Hanging with my nephews at Chuck E. Cheese.

Christmas came and went and the boys returned to their mother. My sister and I spent time laughing over television shows, going to the movies, and generally catching up. 

Yesterday, we took our nieces out for lunch at P.F. Changs. I love this restaurant because they have a wonderful gluten-free menu. My favorite item, the lemon scallops, are no longer on the menu, but they will make them if requested. Yummy! My sister and I shared a bunch of dating horror stories with the girls and caught up on their plans for college and the future. We advised them both that if they want to get married, they should pursue it before they're 30. After the age of 30, it's just too hard. And, as my sister likes to say, "The odds are good, but the goods are ODD." Isn't that the truth?

My sister and I saw two movies together this time around.

"Young Adult" was strange but oddly compelling. The main character, Mavis, made me cringe with her bizarre, selfish antics. It reminded me how different our relationships with friends are once they get married and start having kids. Regardless of my feelings about losing friends who have moved on, I can comfort myself in the knowledge that I've never been THIS bad. Of course, I didn't have any high school romances on which to wax sentimental.

I recommend "Young Adult", but wait for the DVD release. 

Last night, Suzan and I saw "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows". Neither of us saw the first movie, which in this case was probably a mistake. The movie begins abruptly and it took us both a while to get caught up on what was happening. 

Then it got boring. Very boring. 

Eventually, the movie picked up and all of the clues offered in the beginning of the movie began to tie themselves together in a way that finally made me sit up and pay close attention. The momentum built until the very end. This movie reminded me of something I often tell my students -- writers put details in stories for a reason. Those details never seem important at first, but eventually they prove to be valuable. This movie played too much on small details that saved Holmes and Watson from utter destruction or certain death. 

Once again...wait for DVD.

This morning, I dropped my sister off at the airport and arrived home around 7 (yawn!). I checked my mail and was delighted to find an envelope from a friend. He had warned me he was sending something and that I might already have one...I had no idea what he was sending. Therefore, I was delightedly surprised when I found a copy of our old high school newspaper!

Yes, that's April 1988 -- my senior year of high school

I did not, in fact, have a copy of this issue. The only issue I had saved was the last. Therefore, this was a wonderful surprise. 

I don't have a collection of fond memories of high school, but this newspaper reminded me of some of the good times I'd forgotten. 










And how was YOUR holiday?


D