YIPPY! My sister and her family are here. My nephew is spending the nights with us. Niece is with DTD, which is a first. Sister and husband are staying in a darling little Best Western nearby that wins awards and is so clean it's pitiful. Mike and I should stay there and let the others have the house, ha!

Remember back in the summer when my nephew and his friend stayed in the mountains with us? How they both shared a hand towel? Not for drying hands, mind you, but for drying off after showering. Never mind the stack of bath towels in the TV room in the balcony, left there by my sister. The boys passed those towels 800 times a day. Sorry Aunt who can't move them to the bathroom, is my guess.

Well, tonight I hear the water running in the tub. That reminded me that I forgot to hang towels in there for my nephew. So I hollered, NEPHEW!, you need a towel! He replies, I have a towel. After checking the undisturbed linen closet, I argued, No, you don't. Yes, I do. I said, WHAT?, the HAND towel (not again!)? He said, No, there's a towel on the floor. Towel on the floor??? That's the BATH MAT!!!

I truly give up. But while I'm giving up, I'm cracking up, too.

For dinner for my sister we had chicken pot pie . . . again. Honestly, all that work paid off. By the time I've served Christmas dinner, sent pie home with guests, had stepson over for a couple of servings, eaten it three nights in a row, frozen some, etc., etc., I count up 25 portions. WOW, I'm impressed with myself, pardon the brag. I was pleased that my niece and nephew ate most of theirs. Niece obviously does not like the dark crust edge. Nephew couldn't clean his plate if his life direly depended upon it, unless it was donuts or anything white bread. Later when we were opening gifts we somehow got on the subject of how niece has never eaten her vegetables. She opposed that and said, I like lots of vegetables and I've always eaten them. Sister and I exchange glances. Niece went on to list asparagus, green beans, carrots. WHOA! Niece, you left your carrots from chicken pie on your plate this very night. I was intrigued how she neatly picked out the mushrooms and carrots and scooted them to the rim of the plate. There they were, two matching carrot rounds, bright orange, side by side like two big eyeballs, and distinctly discarded. But that's okay, she likes her carrots. Aren't they a hoot?

DTD, meanwhile, is eating like there's no 2010 lurking around the corner. Unfortunately, none of the above appreciate my Eagle Eye Annie approach to the remains of their plates. But it's one of those little things that I can't help myself. A friend and I were talking about how to deal with difficult relatives and her conclusion was that people can't help themselves, for the most part. Maybe that's lame, but it's my excuse for this food thing. I can't help myself. Once in the mountains a few years ago, I offered $1 every time someone cleaned their plate. It didn't work out so hot.

Last night I got my annual Audrey Hepburn calendar for $3.20. That made me happy. It's supposed to be $16, but is now half price. PLUS, I had $5 reward at Borders. Audrey keeps me organized for the year. She hangs by the kitchen desk and all obligations get jotted in the chunky squares. Every year I want to try to write so neatly in the boxes and make it purty, and it takes until about January 3 to make it UG-EE.

It just occurred to me that I never put soap in the shower for nephew.

Tonight a guilty party who shall remain nameless allowed Jazzi Jo Mader a few seconds of free reign in the yard while said party was tending to other matters in said yard. A few seconds is all it took, we had sick dog again. What on earth is dog craving in yard? I hope it's not ciggy butts from roofer, because I remember my neighbor saying she will not allow workers to smoke on her property because the dogs can get so violently ill ingesting butts. I'm here to tell you, you do not want to deal with sick dog product while you are trying to roll out pie crust. Thankfully, the messes were less revolting this time . . . but still . . . I was close to hanging guilty party. Just kidding. Sort of. I was forced to deal, rather inelegantly I'm afraid, and move on. Besides, I'm in love with guilty party.

This kid is dropping. BYE. KEM.