12/29/2003

== You Got to Know When to Hold'um, Know When to Fold'um ==

Like much of my holiday, today was spent entirely with my family. When you don't see each other often enough it sure takes a long time to "catch up." In the morning we all gathered around my mom and talked. The conversation went from my 16-year-old niece's vague memories of playing in her backyard as a toddler to my mother recalling her early childhood, and growing up during WWII. I am the baby of the family by far, my closest sibling being 20 years older than me. I never even realized my mom was alive during WWII! One of her oddest wartime memories was created as a little girl in first grade. She said the students would line up in the school's hallway for rations of prunes and grapefruit juice.


[The holidays are always a great time for family games. Tonight we watched my 6-year-old nephew Hayden put on a magic show. Then we played Trivia Pursuit while Hayden kept insisting we play poker. We finally compromised with him and played a two-hour hand of Uno.]