... and back to Austin already. Brad and I went for a very short trip to the LBK for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, and rushed back to Austin before we could get sucked back in to the dustbowl.

The funny thing about Lubbock (and most hometowns, I'm sure) is the way that everyone that ever lived there congregates the night before a holiday and descends upon the only open bar. I chose not to go out this time, because I wanted to see my family (and I was pretty sure my mom would have had a heart attack if I had tried to leave the house), but I remember every other Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve in Lubbock for the past five or six years ... you can almost bet on who will be walking in the door next at Bash's or Hub City or the Spoon. It's charming some years - lots of fun to get tipsy, watch the door and be elated to see all the old faces; other years it's ... something to avoid. This year was the latter for me.

I spent our 36 hours in Lubbock with my family, giving and opening presents, eating turkey and watching movies, seeing the neighborhood Christmas lights, and playing with Julie, my family's new dog. (That's right, I said Julie. She fits right in with the other dog, Molly, and cats Kathleen and Jennifer. I can't wait until they get a hamster and name her Barbara.) It was fun to just relax at my family's house and chill out, and visits from Santa are always a good thing.

I do miss seeing my family often, but I definitely don't miss the taste of dirt in the air in West Texas. The sky was literally dirt brown for 30 miles on East 84 after leaving Lubbock on Friday. Brad and I picked up Josie's (Brad declared that the Carne Guisada burritos were the best part of the whole trip), checked out the new Inkfluence tattoo shop and gallery, hit the highway headed towards Post, put in "The Darkness" CD we had just bought at Ralph's, and said goodbye again to the South Plains.

We entertained ourselves one the drive home with the Monster Ballads CD, a great gift from my sister to Brad, and with games like "How much would I have to pay you to..." (pretty self-explanatory) and "Would You Rather...?" (i.e. would you rather have big toes on your hands in place of thumbs, or a long index finger hanging from each of your ears instead of earlobes? Would you rather live in the perfect house in a crappy town or in a crappy house in the perfect town? Would you rather ride a really big dog to school and/or work every day or have to walk backwards everywhere you went?)

Hope your holiday was just as entertaining.

Lucy loves you |