After saying I wouldn't post yesterday I thought,Oh heck I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas so I did.  I hope yours was as good as mine.  We had two places to enjoy the day so we were doubly lucky.  We spent the morning at Carolyn's daughter's house with her daughter and son who shall remain nameless in respect for their privacy.  We exchanged gifts and talked some before moving on.  Thanks Miss D for everything.  

After making a date with the kids for dinner on Sunday we headed for my sister's house.  The annual "scrabble game" was delayed until we got there and I wasn't close to winning.  One of my nephews creamed the rest of us.  It wasn't close.  It wasn't long after that when the bubbly appeared on the scene along with the rest of the group.  There were twelve of us and we started talking about what is happening with the English language.  The use of suffixes like "cality"  you know physicality, verticality and other suffixes that make verbs out of nouns sort of blow my mind.  So from the start and through the rest of the day new words appeared in the conversations and laughs abounded.  My brother in law did his usual thing by preparing a wonderful meal of lamb, crab (for the vegans) potatoes, spinach, broccoli cauliflower, carrots,pasta salad, mac and cheese and I'm probably leaving something out.  Delicious.

 There was an exchange of gifts and then my sister gave each of us things that she had saved or fit the receiver of the gift.  For her kids she gave them letters that they had written to her while traveling or just dropping her a note.  For her grandchildren she gave them some of the toys they played with while she baby sat them.  For me she gave me a series of books on WWII knowing that the period of time spanning the war interests me.  She also gave me some leather postcards that my granddad used or received.  It was very nice of her to do that.  

Today I'm headed to Santa Anita to play the ponies and see some old friends.  I don't particularly like the card but it will be my only chance to get out there.

Here are some more of my picks  (I went 2 for 2 the other day.  On December 27 I'm taking Cincinnati over Virginia Tech in a toss up, Arizona State over Duke,  South Carolina over Miami, Boston College over Penn State and USC over Nebraska.  On the 29th Texas A&M over West Virginia, Oklahoma over Clemson and Arkansas over Texas.  On the 30th LSU over Notre Dame, Georgia over Louisville and Stanford over Maryland.  On the 31st TCU to beat Ole Miss,  Arizona to beat Boise State and Miss State over Georgia Tech.  I'll do Jan 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th when I get home.  That's it enjoy your day.