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As you, Gentle Reader, must know by now, the Wonder-Wagon is no more. She went to the great junkyard in the sky. No sooner did her soul leave this Earth, than L.W.'s parents did bestow upon us a brand-spankin'-new 2007 Mercury Mariner. It's completely amazing and totally unexpected. It has heated seats, sunroof, 6CD changer, backup warning sensors, side curtain airbags and, best of all, it has that little keychain chirpy unlock doohickey. We absolutely love it. We'll, I love it. L.W. hasn't really seen it--except out the window with her hand mirror (a technique that she learned from watching too many prison movies). I hardly know what to say except, Thank you Wayne and Martha!
It was a very untraditional Christmas around the Livingston household this year. Christmas day, L.W. was still in the hospital, so we delayed our event until the 28th. Turns out, this is also our 21st anniversary. Lovely Mother-in-law and Lovely Sister-in-law were here also, so it was a very festive event. At the crack of noon, the children all gathered round to open their presents.
We had another guest this year: Mr. Boyfriend. Lovely Daughter has managed to snag one out of the sea (I think it's due to her fishing-lure earrings). We've met Mr. Boyfriend and we definitely approve. He's a very nice, well-mannered young man. L.D. seems to have good taste. I'll be sure to fill you all in on the goings-on the coming months.
So there we were, just minding our own business readying ourselves for Christmas. Lovely Wife had gone out in the late afternoon for some shopping and a trip to the Post Office. Then tragedy struck. She was on a two-lane undivided road, when a young woman in her early twenties turned left right into her. L.W. had no time to react or to avoid the collision. It was nearly head on. Luckily, L.W. was wearing her seatbelt and her airbag deployed. She suffered a broken tibia, fibula, patella and dislocated foot. Friday morning she had surgery to repair her patella and to put rods, pins and an external fixator on the ankle. She will have an additional surgery on the lower leg when the swelling goes down--probably around January 8th.
For those of you who know Lovely Wife, you can imagine that being laid up and not active is very difficult for her; however, she is in great spirits. Her attitude is GREAT!. Most of all, she realizes that she was very lucky. It was a fairly serious wreck and she could have been hurt much worse than she is. The doctors believe that she will be put back together and will regain normal use of the leg. Moreover, we have had an overwhelming outpouring of love, prayers, visits, gifts and food from friends and family.
It's time once again to take the Christmas Tour of the Livingston abode. Come as you are, no need to take off your shoes. We're hosting our Sunday School Christmas party and the Christmas Bunko party, so Lovely Wife has dedicated herself to fixing up the place.
This year L.W. has outdone herself. She has decorated every little nook and cranny. It will take us until Easter to find all the little nick-nacks.
It's the annual Livingston Light Celebration (yeah, I tried to come up with a third "L" word, but couldn't do it). These lights, you know, are both a blessing and a curse. I love to see them when they're up and lit. I don't really mind putting them up either--BoyHead ManHead and I did it on a sunny 65o late Autumn day which was quite lovely. The real curse of these lights is their reliability. They are constantly burning out. I cannot go through a whole season without burning out at least three strings. But hey, let's not focus on the negative. Aren't they lovely? I've got more lights burning than North Korea. Even the tree-huggers are pleased. How could you not be? It's the most wonderful time of the year.
Ignominious Defeat
The Rams continued their season ending death spiral with a terrible loss against the hapless Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday. After starting the season with a 4-1 start, the Rams have lost six out of their last seven games and were unable to defeat the 2-9 Cardinals. Thanks to the brilliant use of the "No Offense Huddle", the Rams were defeated 34-20. But, I am benefiting from the Rams misfortunes. The more they lose, the more games I get to go to (hey, at least I'm thinking optimistically). Last week, the ManHead and I went to see the Rams eke out a 30-27 nailbiter against the 49ers and this week, I was able to bring the gang for Sunday afternoon festivities. Well, even if the team doesn't play well, at least the pre-game party is pretty good.
Lovely Wife wrote a series of skits involving various aspects of grinchiness for the current series at church, "Are you the Grinch". This weeks topic was "Busyness"--something that L.W. can certainly relate to. As luck would have it, L.W. was given the opportunity (thanks to an 11th hour schedule change) to play Greta Grinch. Of course, she pulled it off in a most robust fashion. I was the humble narrator and read aloud in my best James Earl Jones voice. Everyone looks forward to more such performances in the upcoming weeks.
For those who may not be aware, I have become quite the athlete as of late. You see, I began playing racquetball again this summer after a short 15 year hiatus. I played quite a bit in college and some in the Air Force, but then I took some time off to work on my gut. The whole gut thing was proliferating quite well, but I was beginning to feel lethargic. Like in another 15 years I'd barely be able to move. So, since our church has a court and is only a mile away and it's free...I started playing r-ball. Slowly, I graduated to seven to nine times per week (which is where I am now). My overall endurance has improved dramatically. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to see if I could run a mile. I ran my fastest mile in the past 15 years (10:21). I feel the Olympics will call any day. Oh...and another benefit. I've lost 35 lbs.