I had a plan. I hadn't seen my extended family in over 2 years, so I decided to horde most of my vacation all year and carpool with my parents up to Toledo. This was a good plan. I meant I had almost 3 full weeks off thanks to the Holidays. Christmas, my birthday, New Years and then Magfest. Nothing but fun from Dec 17th to January 5th. I should have F^*#ing known.

In Nov. we found out my mother in law would need some life saving surgery. The only time she could schedule it; Dec. 21st. Well, there went my trip up north. But thats OK, sometimes you need to be there for family, and I had no qualms about staying here for Christmas. Time for Plan B. We could still head out to the mountains to visit my folks for a few days before they left for Toledo. On Friday the 18th, the day we were planning on leaving, we got 16 inches of snow and I came down with the worst cold I've had in years. There was no way we could make it.

Plan C. My mother in law is out of the hospital and we're going to have Christmas at her house. Her sister came down from PA to help out and we'll be eating a big meal and generally having a good time. I'm feeling much better and am finally ready to celebrate. So of course my wife caught my cold. She's miserable, stuck in bed and high contagious. Her mother is still vulnerable after coming out of a major surgery. We'll be staying home today.

Plan D. I picked up a few bags of chocolates while I was out at the pharmacy getting medicine. I've placed them in a decorative glass bowl:



I've also dug out an old favorite and will be starting a new game:



Lets see if we can't salvage something of Christmas.