My weekend of rest and relaxation was a success. I was lured out of the house of Saturday to see "The Aviator" and "Fat Albert". OK, "The Aviator" was the primary reason I went to the theater.

Martin Scorcese had done a wonderful job with this picture. Leo DiCaprio channels Hughes. Cate Beckinsale did a great job as Hepburn; although I keep wanting to have seen Kate Mulgrew in the part. "Fat Albert" was good for what it was. I kept reminding myself that there were 10 year olds in the audience laughing at the movie, so it did what it was supposed to. It also delivered a message just like the old show used to.

I talked to John on Christmas morning and got inventory on his presents so I know what to put on my shopping list. True to my luck, the van has really been running badly and will have to have a tune up almost immediately. This of course, cuts into Christmas money which sucks. With my plans for Santa calls next year blows like that to the budget should not happen.

The only pang of emotion; mostly regret, that I had this Christmas was over my sister, Elaine. She and I have not talked in years. The last contact I had with her was an email from her warning me not to contact any of her children. It's a sad and long story about what caused the rift between us, but at this point everyone in the family seems to agree that the continued rift is all her fault. Those reasons are also varied and deep. I was the closest to Elaine out of all my sisters. We were friends on top of being siblings. I miss her terribly. I almost sent her an email. For years I'd sent her cards on her birthday and Christmas but haven't for quite a while. I have tried and can look myself in the mirror over the issues that separated us and attempts at reconciliation since. A few years before our mothers death I had sent her a letter saying I didn't want us to meet as strangers over her coffin; that just about happened. The thought that kept running through my mind this weekend was what was going to happen if we ended up the last two surviving siblings. Maybe I will still drop her a note. I want to know I still kept on trying. Maybe it's all part of the way we always review the past twelve months this time of year.

All in all '04 hasn't ended up that bad. Before the ball drops next weekend I'll do some reading myself and see what this blog can tell me about exactly how good a year it really was.




Last thought, this website come with a spellchecker. I find it silly that a spellchecker on a blogging website does not recognize the word "blog". DUH!