Ho ho ho

Yesterday my holiday spirit was running on empty. By the end of the day, I had left a snippy phone message for my mom about Christmas dinner, had hung up on Mr Stapler and had let my dog run through a giant patch of poison oak.

At that point I was fairly convinced that I was going to spend the next 3 days by myself eating pop tarts and drinking massive quantities of whatever was within reach - hell, cocoa spiked with cooking sherry was sounding just fabulous.

Then evening came and my friend Alicia arrived and hauled me off for some tasty and filling Mexican food, girl talk and book shopping, all topped off by a glass of wine at an outdoor cafe next to a blazing fireplace.

Dear sweet Alicia listened to me, told me hilarious courthouse stories from her work ("So my boss said, 'Did you notice that she may have been on drugs?'") (with the identities changed to protect the guilty and innocent alike) and generally talked me off my ledge.

See what friends can do? Now the holiday season is back on. As soon as I begin speaking to my family and boyfriend again.