That is an old silly tradition in my family that I have never quite understood, but I carry it on anyway. My grandmother (the one that is still alive in Round Rock) always would try to beat us at saying Christmas Gift or Christmas Eve Gift. Whoever said it first was supposedly supposed to get a gift from the other person, which was always kind of silly because we were going to exchange gifts anyway. As we grew up we tried to beat my grandmother at saying it, but it was next to impossible. You couldn't call her on the phone because she would answer it with "Christmas Gift." Mark has never understood the tradition, but he is finally catching on to it a bit himself. He called my sister today to get some information and when she said hello he said "Christmas Eve Gift" and I could hear her saying "oh shit" from across the living room. I let her beat me to it so she would feel better.

We have had a very nice Christmas Eve. We slept late, ate my wonderful cinnamon rolls that I made last night, and sat around drinking coffee and I talked a long while to my sister. In the afternoon we went to Polvos, sat outside on this glorious day and Rocky, the acupuncturist, joined us with presents and we had tamales and great conversation. Mark doesn't get to see her and visit nearly as often as I do and I think they both enjoyed their chance to catch up. We went on to South Congress and found no crowds and enjoyed doing a little shopping just for fun. We went to Blackmail, such a fabulous store, and finally got me a pair of black pointy-toe vintage boots. I have fat calves, I'll admit, and I can't wear many boots, but the old 40s-style short boots work great for me. I'm not sure these are the ones, size-wise, but I'm giving them a try this week to see.

We stopped in Travis Heights to visit our old neighbors and see their new cool house and were quite jealous of its neat features--- archways, wooden floors, cool tile, colorful paint. I'm glad they got into something cool and hope we can stay friends so we can come by and visit more!

Came home and napped and then watched the world's worst movie: Outlaw Blues. It was filmed in Austin in 1977 and my little cousin was in the filming at the time and her part didn't make it into the movie. I had seen the movie 25 years ago (it didn't so bad then), but I bought it recently online so we could see the Austin parts. It was an awfully hard movie to watch just to get a glimpse of the Woolworth's that used to be at 6th and Congress or the old Soap Creek Saloon. Okay, it was very cool to see my old building and old studios when my station was still only AM. That was neat, but all too short! No Whole Foods, or even our expansion that went over the parking lot, were there at that time, but I'm sure if I could have looked more closely I would have seen that it was the same crappy carpet and equipment that was there when I worked there.

I've been listening a lot today to our 24 hours of Christmas music. I did a much better job this year than last year, but there are a few things I will tweak before next year. I think the music has all been very tolerable and if it was questionable (too slow, too religious-y, too old sounding) the next song has always been very strong. And it also reflects our station very well with a great mixture of old and Texas and George Strait. I'm proud of myself.

Got a nice call today from Double D, too. I had thought about calling him, but you never know if that is appropriate or an interruption into someone else's holiday. I don't know how I missed the call, but the message might have been more meaningful than if we had talked. He said the nicest things and told me he loved me. Just last week I told another male friend that I loved him. That is a very hard thing to do with someone of the opposite sex. You don't want them to take it as a red flag and run. You want them to understand the feeling behind it. I love each of them and I'm very glad they are in my life. My life is much more colorful and meaningful because I met them this year. They aren't going to wreck my marriage and I don't love them in the way that means I want to run off with them. I say I Love You to my female friends a lot (that all just began after 9/11) and it is so nice to be able to express that feeling to someone that I do love. But men make it difficult. I appreciate him saying it and knowing I would understand his motivation and I appreciate the other taking it as I meant it and returning those words.

So as my computer clock turns to midnight and Christmas begins officially, let me say "I love you" and I thank you for being a loyal reader or casual reader. It means a lot to have eyes on my words and feelings shared. And I appreciate the encouragement and support I've received from you through this year as I've gone through trying times. And I appreciate the encouragement of my writing efforts, too. I will get into New Year's Resolutions next week, but working on the writing is in there and your words help me feel good about that.

Christmas Eve is over. Pretty Paper by Willie Nelson is on the radio. I didn't know how this holiday would go, and it isn't over yet, but so far it has been completely stress and worry free, and for that I am grateful. I come from a very FUNCTIONAL family and our holidays are the best, but they still contain stress and expectations. It is very nice to not have to travel, fret, fear. I hope your Christmas is going as well as mine.