Personal note for Christmas Eve...
Today I'll be making the Christmas flatbread [to go with the Christmas peppers-and-beef-over-rice], and doing an assortment of last-minute odds and ends that have the effect of making my house look cleaner than it really is, and getting ready for tonight's Christmas Eve buffet and gift-opening, and rushing through a batch of other last-minute things I should have done already but haven't gotten to yet, and looking forward to tomorrow when my family will be here with me to celebrate The Occasion. [And having a very good time all the while, for sure.]

I wanted to drop in here and tell you that I hope the holiday you're celebrating will be splendid, and that it arrives complete with electric power and other blessings, and that you don't have to go out and drive around on any icy roads or lie around on the floors of any airports or languish for hours stranded on runways in any airplanes. And to those of you whose situation doesn't fit that profile: I wish you fortitude, and may you have good company with you to make the difficult time go by more quickly and pleasantly.

I'm a lucky woman, myself; I have electricity, I don't have to go anywhere, and I have David Sedaris doing his Christmas Elf monologue in the background while I type. These seem to me to be three good omens.

I know this message doesn't rhyme or scan -- because I didn't plan ahead properly -- but I'll bet that it can be sung to the tune of "Gilligan's Island" or "Bonaparte's Retreat."

The happiest of holidays to you and your households, each and every one; and may the New Year treat you gently...