The Holidays.

Work has started to slow down, the weather has cooled a little, and chit chat about holiday plans has started in earnest. Melba and I will be having a strictly traditional, conservative, and low-key Christmas this year; we're goin' to Vegas! Melba's dad and stepmom are big fans of Vegas. We figured it'd be fun to meet up there and partake in such classic Christmas mainstays as blackjack, roulette, and betting on college football bowl games.Melba and I also picked up a Christmas tree last night. Is there anything more California than driving home with a potted Christmas tree in the back of a convertible with the top down? We got a living tree in the hopes of donating it to the city for the Million Trees LA program in January. Assuming we don't kill it by then.

This time of year always makes me sappy, and it's not even things that should make me sappy, like fond remembrances of family or fuzzy bunnies. No, I get all mushy when an ad with swells of orchestral music comes on the radio. Or seeing happy kids at the farmers market. Or when I think of how lucky I am.

I'm a lucky, lucky bastard.