...and to all a good night.

my top three christmas gifts this year:

1. a gps. [!] oh-so exciting. i can't wait to go anywhere at all so i can try it out.

2. a book - the only one on my list this year. "Other People's Love Letters". compiled by a former editor of life magazine, it is a collection of actually love letters - emails, hand-written napkins, typed letters, misc. cards. anyone that knows me understands two things about me: 1. i am pretty nosy. 2. i am in love with love. both are married in this book and i absolutely cannot get enough of it. it's pretty much a dream come true for me - to be able to look at notes written to other people that were never meant to be seen by anyone else. the introduction alone made me fall in love with it. it makes me look at my own letters, both received and sent, in a completely different way. [insert dreamy sigh here]:(

3. my grandpa's story about two 72-ish year old women at the elderly home he lives at fighting over him. he is 91, and got a woman 20 years younger than him to look at another woman and say, "stay away from my man!" i've never laughed so hard in my life. i realize this is not an under-the-tree-type present, but it was a gift just the same. side note: although the story was extremely entertaining, it left me with a sad feeling inside that life really never gets any easier. all my grandpa wanted to do was eat some chili with maryann, because shirley didn't like chili. shirley promptly got angry and called out maryann. i sincerely hope that 50 years from now i find a bit more peace.

merry late christmas. i hope it was grand.