Today is my last day of work before the holidays. WHEE!

Currently, I feel like someone has stomped on my head, kicked me in the gut, and sliced my brains open. I'm weaning myself off the anti-depressant Lexapro and it's kicking me in the ass. Mike just keeps quoting this episode of Friends where Chandler tells Rachel (who has tried smoking), "You've got to keep going because it's about to get sooooo gooood." I've found that taking a large handful of Tylenol can help me through for about two hours. Yikes.

I'm heading to Rochester with Madison tomorrow to celebrate Christmas, while Mike heads for Duluth. We visited his mom on Friday night at the hospital (just a quick trip up and back in the same night) and she looked pretty good. She will hopefully be heading for a nursing home to recoup in a few weeks. I'm sure the driving to Duluth from Babbitt daily is getting to be a tough one for Mike's dad. It's an 1 1/2 hour drive one way.

Madison has discovered that she likes to play fetch, A LOT! We bought her a tennis ball that she loves to ran after. I tried to get her to play fetch with the neighbor dog, but she was more interested in just chasing the dogs, not the ball. Yesterday she chewed a hole in a small football we have. Then she carried it around the house with her snout stuck inside. It was hilarious. She is quite the goofy dog.

Big news I read online yesterday was that Lisa Marie has decided to sell Elvis' estate. She will retain Graceland and her father's personal effects, but has decided to sell the bulk of Elvis Presley Enterprises to a company that can continue to market and expand her father's image and legacy into much more and continue to introduce him to new generations. While I understand the rationale behind this, I still think it's crap. I wouldn't give it up. I think she's getting something like 35 million for it, and they have about 13 million in debt that will be paid. But that estate makes over 40 million a year and I just can't see what you'd want to get rid of it. Yet, I suppose that Graceland will make up a lot of that too. It is the 2nd most visited private residence in America after the White House. Anyway, interesting argument.

We had a discussion at work yesterday on what is your best and worst holiday. It was a good question because it makes you stop and think and all holidays, not just Christmas. I decided that the worst Christmas was when Dad and Mom decided to separate 2 weeks before the holiday. Let's just say that it wasn't much fun that year! However I do remember specifically that I received my first Walkman that year. It did not have a radio, and it only had the Fast Forward, no rewind on it. Lasted me quite awhile.

My best Christmas was when I was about 5. Driving to Linda and Sig's house in Kasson, Pat pointed outside in the sky to me and said, "LOOK! It's Santa!" And sure enough, there he was in the sky with his lights flickering. Later, Santa showed up at their house too! It was great. I received a Dukes of Hazzard sleeping bag that lasted until we threw it away just last year.

A close second was the year that Dad got our dog Wimpy for us. They put a little bow on his head, and I had to close my eyes while they put him on my lap. He licked me in the face right away and I just loved him. He was so cute.

Happy Holidays!