We'll Phone You

I love how my worst nightmares about the holiday season aren't coming true this year. Since about 2002 the prospect of gift and feast buying has sent me into a cold sweat, but things are, as they say, looking up and I'm ready for the hoopla that is Christmas. The house is festive with decorations, the pantry is full with the ingredients for various holiday treats, gifts are beginning to appear beneath the tree, and we're looking forward to the arrival of our two daughters from NYC and Memphis, respectively. The only unhappy thing is that our son, Nathan, can't join us this year. As a chef at Chicago's Fairmont Hotel, he's sort of up to his neck in preparing meals for other people (we have yet to receive the benefit of his culinary expertise).

Dare I say it? Things are great and there's a certain vibe in the air that this is just the beginning of even better things to come. Does this mean we passed the audition?