Christmas in Tennessee

It's so nice to spend Christmas with family. This was the first time in many years that I had been able to spend Christmas with MY family. Our son came out from LA to be with us and it was wonderful all around.

We always go to the Children's mass at the church on campus even though all the children are much too grown up now to play angels, or shepherds, or wise men, or Mary or Joseph. It's still a treat to see the next generation take on the production.

Then we all gather at my parents' house for a reveillon. This is completely traditional and woe to the one who might consider varying the menu (other than to add some foie gras to the mix!). There's always smoked salmon, there's always quiche, and there's always "salade exotique." Salade Exotique is a composed salad of boston lettuce, thinly sliced tomatoes, avocado, hearts of palm, grapefruit, and olives with a classic vinaigrette. And of course, champagne to celebrate the new birth.

Christmas dinner, however, is more open to creative juices, at least in Tennessee. This year we had honey-baked ham and roasted winter vegetables. Pies for dessert. Very tasty.

The day after Christmas my back went out. I mean, I was scraping something off a plate into the trash and then I couldn't get up! I guess three months of sleeping on those beds and then packing and standing in line all caught up with me. Thank heaven Knoxville can claim the world's best chiropractor. If you are in Knoxville and you need your back adjusted, do call on Williem Kelley.

He works on the UT football team. He's that good. He's open at 6 AM and will take walk-ins. We were long-time buddies from when I lived in Knoxville so he didn't need to do a lot of diagnostic stuff on me. He knew exactly what to do. I walked in there bent in two and left standing upright. I went back the next day for one final adjustment before we left for California. I knew I had to be a beast of burden one more time, this time with the dog in tow, so I couldn't risk my back blowing out again. It worked.

We left on the 29th to return to Oakland. We drove the "Katrina" car back to Atlanta. We determined that this was a "Katrina" car because a) it squeaked in ways we had never heard a car squeak before, b) the speedometer was all fogged up behind the plastic shield, c) it was registered in Louisiana, and (last but not least), d) it belonged to FEMA!!! We figure it spent some time under water.

This last leg of the trip was blessedly uneventful. The dog got to Oakland in one piece and our friend D met us at the airport. We were so happy to see her. We got home about 11 PM and crashed. The house looked great and it was good to sleep in our own bed again. We were finally all the way home.