Tonight was the family christmas party. It's getting big. There were at least fourty people there when you count all the uncles, aunts, cousins and their kids.

This is a family tradition that's just catching on. Fifteen years ago, most of the uncles and aunts would attend, but it was never more than a dozen people.

As we grow older, my cousins are making more of an effort to stay in touch. I didn't realize it until years later, but there was once infighting between my grandparents and the uncles and aunts. My parents made a good effort to keep me out of the feud, but in the end I didn't see certain people as often as others.

The feud is over now that my grandparents are dead. Everyone talks again. And I get to enjoy the company of people who look, sound and act a lot like me.

I'm at my parents home in Ontario, then land were deep snow is taken forgranted at this time of the year.

It was along day of traveling. I got up at 5am in Seattle. I arrived at 9pm in the Valley.

Christmas Eve was rackus. When had the neghbors over, so we drank too much and talked until late.

Christmas day was quiet, but nice and romantic. RO and I spent an hour in the hot tub with the snow gently falling on us.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Years!

Last night it snowed another four or so inches.

Everything is a bit dreamy. Work is kind of open. The roads have kinda been cleared. Stores are kinda open. Life goes on at half speed. Every one knows the normal rules don't apply.

It snowed again last night. At least six more inches.



This is getting weird. Seattle is running in a low gear. Most people are staying home from work. Some stores are open but operating with half the staff. The freeways are quiet. People are driving, but at half the speed limit.

Snow day...

Seattle shuts down when it snows. I'm trying to work from home, but the work network is so overloaded that I can only do email.

Christmas Parties. Christmas Parties. RO and I have been attending at least two a week since December started.

It is fun and nice, but I am eating way too much bad food. This year vegi trays appear to be out of style.

It's also nice to see everyone. I'm suprized how many "Twice a year" friends I now have.

Christmas sales for the store are poor. We are down 40%. The initial boost whe had after the election is long gone.

This puts us in a bad position. With sales down by 40%, we will only earn enough to pay our bills. We will not have a reserve for next year.

All sales since September have been down by at least 40%. We have burnt up what little cash we had left.

In Janurary we must cut way back. We are going to cut back on store hours and we will lay off all of our employees. I would like to keep one employee so that RO isn't tied to the store at all times, but we may not have the cash for that.

Last night was eventful.

An old friend of RO's was in town on business. He spent the night at our place. The friend is a nice guy.

RO forgot to mention that he is still pining for this friend.

The three of us went to a holiday open house and then out to bear night. As RO drank more, his inhibitions went down. Eventually RO told me how much he wanted to have sex with the friend... and he wouldn't let it go. Fortunately, the friend kept RO off of him despite ROs advances.

Eventually RO and I fought and slept in separate beds and talked through though everything and made up.

But, this still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm in a new building at my day job. I begrudgingly like it. The 'new' building is physically older then the last building. Its walls and furniture are scuffed. The whiteboards are screwed into the walls, not modular and easy to rearrange as they were in the the last building.

I like the layout. I am closer to my team than I have ever been. As a result I'm working with them more closely. It's so easy to stop in and say 'hello' or to ask a question.

I can keep my window blinds up all the times. They were always down in the last building since the sun would shine in and overheat things.

Finally, I can park right outside my office. I'm suprized how nice it is to leave work at night, and be in my truck in 30 seconds.