Could've Been Much Worse.

I could, for example, have passed out in a Wal Mart. Which I almost did.

Sorry. Can you imagine anything more simultaneously horrifying, mortifying and depressing?

I digress. I was at Wal Mart because it's next to a video game store, and Will wanted some replacement video games for Christmas. As long as I was there, I thought I'd get light bulbs and a cat box. No particular connection between the two, it just needed doing.

Got about 10 minutes into the store and the shoulder blade felt like it was just getting pulled off my back. Started to get very dizzy from the pain and almost pulled down a rack or two of clothes. Which would've been nothing unusual for Wal Mart at Christmas -- "He was just overcome by the excitment of it all!" -- but, still. Ugh.

Made it home, barely. Lisa took care of the chickens, and I poured myself into a really hot bath, took a monster ibuprofen and a big, fat, prescription pain pill. Which I hardly ever do. I'm kind of in the ether right now. Damn, I have got to get this fixed. I don't think this slushy, wet weather helps the arthritis any.

New Year's resolution to self: Get this fixed. Rehabilitate. Seriously.

The boys are putting up our Christmas village, which is one of my favorite things to watch them do together. We started out buying little ceramic stores, etc., when we lived in Westchester in 1998 -- drove all the way up to East Arlington, Vermont, for our first ones. The East Arlington store has long since closed, but we try to add a couple of pieces every year. So it's more like a Christmas metropolis.

I think they know that watching them work on something together is one of my very favorite things in the world. It's really all I need for Christmas.