A Priceless Holiday Follow Up

62 – the degrees at which our house was during dinner. Yes, our guests were freezing unbeknownst to me. Thank goodness for dessert by the fire.

3 – glasses of wine with dinner, which is probably why I didn’t realize how cold it was in our house.

10 – lbs of roasted vegetables. We have at least 6lbs left over. I think I overestimated our guests’ appetites.

2 – chatty parents, mine. My dad’s line of the night was “To make a long story short…” followed by a long story of course. My mother was characteristically jolly throughout the evening and conversed up a storm making my parents an unstoppable team of talk. But we were entertained nevertheless.

1 – silent dad, Hal’s. His lack of oratory participation made us wonder if he was tired, bored or if all the cashews he ate were not mixing well with his diverticulitis.

71 – attentive nods from Isadora as she listened to all the conversations buzzing around her. When she did volunteer commentary, her tone was as always chronically reassuring, which I’m convinced has been developed from years of psychotherapy.

4.5 – hours of bonding, mainly between Hal and me, as we made it through another family gathering together with much laughter and few mishaps.