Christmas was, I felt, a success. Yes, I had to have my car pushed out of my driveway by two nice strangers, but I made it out alive and the drive to Port Angeles, where I take the ferry into Victoria, was a breeze.

Beth and I had a good time and I was welcomed into a new family. I was treated as family. I was given gifts and I ate and drank with people that I'd only met a couple of times. They went out of their way to let me know that even though this time is hard because I'm so far away from 95% of the people I know, that I have a place there, in Victoria.

It felt good.

My mother abandoned Christmas family stuff this year-- since everyone's left Miami and/or become an asshole, she decided to go on a cruise. I guess she couldn't handle the idea of having a five or six person Christmas dinner this year, especially having had more than twenty people over just last year. I can imagine it must be difficult. So she decided not to play the game at all: my mother and stepfather took my sister and brother-in-law on a cruise. They're in the Caribbean right now. They skipped Christmas and they'll be skipping New Year's Eve, too. I love it. I think its brilliant and given the year she's had, she deserves it. I'm happy for her.

The Seattle snow week is over. The brilliant white sheen of the roads has been replaced with what looks like mounds of pissed-on used charcoal on all of the sidewalks.