I couldn't believe my own ears. Tinker Toys?

Just a warning...I've been sick for 2 days and I think my creativity and sense of humor have died a very tragic death because of the pressure in my head. Regardless, I will buck up and deliver. No telling what is to follow.

I'm sitting on the floor typing on the old laptop as it sits on the coffee table that I inherited from my parents. My little Charlie Brown tree is in the corner and my suitcase sits half packed on the chairs I inherited from my grandparents. Oh wait, "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" just came on the radio. You can't script this stuff. Any minute the opening credits will start rolling for this rather charming new movie about a young woman who just wants to get home for the holidays. I think it's on Lifetime, television for women.

Sadly, the young woman has a terrible cold which has caused her co-workers to mock her lack of pronunciation and diction throughout the day. As she gets up from the small table she makes her way to the coffee pot counting out just enough for two small cups of coffee. She walks to the room and sets the alarm for the awful time of 5:45 and says to herself, "Shall I go to the gym tomorrow? No, I think not." After making her lunch of turkey and mustard she washes her face, pausing long enough to let one tear fall. "Oh Santa, all I want for Christmas is an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle."

Ok - so I got a little off track there. You know, I very rarely have much direction from the beginning. I love that quote - love that movie. My family is not a "National Lampoon's Christmas" family. We are of "A Christmas Story" stock. I'm not sure why. That's just the way it is. I mentioned the movie this week and someone in the office said, "what movie is that?" Apparently they've been living under a rock, or at a house where there parents didn't let them watch t.v. on the weeknights (no one does that, right?). But then again, I hadn't seen the Chevy Chase movie until about 2 years ago...true story. And then, I decided to rent it because I thought my family would get a laugh out of it, and it did get a few gracious chuckles, but nothing like the classic with Ralphie. That's a good memory. Almost as good as watching my cousins getting chewed out for "snooping in the attic" for their Christmas presents - something which they continue to deny into their late 20's. And maybe it's just as good as watching my sister and I open the same gift. We were always big fans of that. Throw in that a memory of all the cousins sleeping in the back bedrooms at the grandparent's house and then running down the brick hallway at 6:00am and you have yourself one very Merry Little Christmas made for t.v. movie.

My head hurts. I'm going to bed. Merry Christmas everyone.