SC - 7-Layer Dip

[Etain1263@aol.com]

Ok- I'll admit it- my Christmas was kind of a bust-

Seumas was going to be up here with me, my kids were with their dad this
year. But 4 pm Christmas Eve I finally heard from the Tall One (had been
watching out the front window for an hour or so) that he wouldn't make
it after all. Sheer exhaustion, after a month of shuttling back and
forth to the hospital, etc. He realized he was in trouble when he
couldn't force himself out on a fire call. So he stayed at his dad's for
the holiday (prolly the best choice anyway, as it will likely be dad's
last). Regina drug me off to a semi-Baronial/semi-private party and I
dressed up and made the best of it. Christmas day she was with family
and I stayed home with the cats and sulked. Boxing Day I drove to Eugene
and picked up my kids and brought them up for the rest of the week. Now
_I'm_ exhausted! I spent New Year's Eve with the Baron and Baroness and
a bunch of their friends- he managed to get his company's skybox for the
hockey game, so I got to see my first hockey game, and the Baroness
(who's from Alberta) explained what was going on. Two of the girls in
our crowd were of course much more interested in a skybox full of
extrememly attractive young men across from us, so guess who hogged the
binoculars?

Didn't really get any food-related presents (except for chocolate from
younger daughter and a Hawaiian fruitcake from my mom- she send it every
year even though it is made with fresh pineapple which I've been
allergic to for years! Sheesh!) but I did pick up my Julia Child
cookbook- _The Art of French Cooking_, a 1964 edition. And when Seumas
finally gets up here (we're hoping this weekend, but maybe not- the
truck just went tires-up rather permanently) I have a couple of game
hens in the freezer that will get dressed with a wild rice pilaf.

Hope everyone has a delightful New Year! Me- I'm banking on it!

'Lainie