Okra Patties for Survival

I realized I left you all hanging here with a post about starving to death in a blizzard. I didn't get too many emails wondering if we'd made it out alive, so I figure you figured I made it out okay and had a lovely Christmas. You are correct. Shortly after writing the last post, Willow convinced her step dad to drive her over to our house for a little rescue. She brought us a big food care package and it was just like we were in our own little soup kitchen. If soup kitchens served okra patties, Veggie Booty, and amaranth flakes.

I don't even know what amaranth is.

Eventually, J dug the car out and we slowly progressed with our holiday. Let me tell you something about Willow: she is an excellent white elephant strategist. Excellent. I bet you thought you couldn't strategize with random gift receiving, but it turns out, OH YES YOU CAN. A bunch of us were all gathered around for a white elephant party, and the rules had been set that when it was your turn, you could either pick a new wrapped gift from the pile or steal another already opened gift. If your gift was stolen, you had the same options. The first five gift-openers were very quiet and content and there wasn't any stealing. Then someone opened a "Boondocks" DVD and all hell broke loose. Seriously, these people wanted that DVD baaad. I didn't particularly care, since meanwhile I had opened a wrapped gift and received all four of the Harry Potter movies and was determined to keep them. But then someone took the "Boondocks" DVD again and the giftless person stole my movies. I had a moment of despair.

Then, quietly at my side, Willow whispers, "Just take the 'Boondocks' DVD and when someone steals it, you can get your movies back." It was like a light went on in my head. Yes...I would be sneaky! So that's what I did and that's what happened. But we were only at the beginning of the game. J suddenly got a pair of night vision goggles that he was in love with and Willow stole a gold-framed squid print that she was desperate to hold onto. Then someone stole my gift again, and Willow whispered, "Just take J's glasses and make him get your movies back." Which we did. Then someone stole Willow's print, and she took my gift so I could get hers back.

That's right: we formed a white elephant alliance. It worked perfectly; we all walked away with exactly what we wanted. Willow was giddy with a sense of accomplishment, saying she channeled her bf, Mike, but I think it's clear she channeled years of reality television viewing.

I think I got everything I wanted for Christmas. Settlers of Catan. Sephora brush set. Nikki McClure calendar. Pancake mix and real maple syrup from the Roadside. ACME Novelty Library #17. A camera.

A camera! We ended up with a Canon PowerShot A540 and are pretty excited about the options. It's not crazy fancy, but it's a big step up from what we were using, and we liked our old camera.

Probably the best gift was getting to spend a couple days with my ladies, Willow and Heather. I didn't realize how much I'd missed having them around until we all were able to hang out in Denver for the first time in forever. In some ways it feels very normal and everyday, but then you realize everyone has to leave the next day and you're back to not having your lady friends anymore.

I've been thinking about New Year's resolutions and I'll need a new one for 2007. I've liked the 52 books in 52 weeks, but I've lost a big chunk of my reading time since I lost my hour and a half daily commute by subway, and completing that challenge now seems like more work than fun. I'm thinking something interactive, though...something like baking a new cookie a month, but not as lame.