Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat!

This week has been busy, but in a piddling way. Seemingly dozens of little chores, errands, tasks, etc. that eat away at a free day. I did get most of the Christmas presents wrapped yesterday, an endeavor that was happily complemented by Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood, Gene Lockhart, William Frawley, Thelma Ritter, and the rest of the cast of 1948's "Miracle on 34th Street". Really, there's not a single misstep in this delightful holiday classic. I know I'm an old sentimentalist but it still brings a lump to my throat to see Kris Kringle's stricken face when little Susan Walker says, "You're just a nice old man with a beard and I shouldn't have believed you." Now all I need to do is watch "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" and my holday must-sees will be complete. There are others I look forward to but these two are the pillars. By the way, "Mr. Magoo" got a big thumbs-up in today's Wall Street Journal from the theater critic, Terry Teachout. I *knew* I liked that guy!

Arturo and I went to see "Slumdog Millionaire" last night and we both really enjoyed it. Good story and storytelling, interesting locales, talented cast. Danny Boyle might get a Best Director nod for this one. For awhile, I was trying to place the actor who played the police chief, and then it occurred to me that he had been in the movie "A Mighty Heart". I looked it up and there he was: Irfan Khan. Role: police chief! Then I kept looking and saw he had also played the father in the lovely movie "The Namesake". Wow--two police chiefs, and a patriarch. Talk about typecasting.

Work was really busy this week but not completely ridiculous. We had a 3-11 shift holiday potluck on Wednesday night and all the food was really yummy. One person brought her George Foreman grill and we cooked hot dogs on it. (Funny note: she's black, and she brought Hebrew National hot dogs. When I asked her about it, she said, "Why, they're kosher! That means they're the best!") The surgical services holiday party is tomorrow night, and I am planning on attending. You know, it's funny. Rex is a private hospital with (I assume) a much bigger profit margin than the state-owned and run UNC Hospital, yet Rex could never manage to get together any kind of holiday celebration for most of the years I worked there. They always cited either their own budgetary restraints, or federal laws that prohibited them from taking "favors" from sales reps. (Which meant that vendors, drug reps, etc. couldn't sponsor a party.) I'd bet anything that UNC has even worse budgetary restraints, and of course federal laws apply across the board, yet they manage to rent a Chapel Hill country club for an evening and have a party for a much larger number of people. Quite the attitude difference! I think it makes everyone feel appreciated, much more so than how we felt when we got the $30 Food Lion gift card from Rex. Which, by the way, was $30 added to your salary, taxed, and reported to the IRS. Merry Christmas, indeed.

Off to do more stuff. According to my desktop "Christmas Countdown" widget, only 5 days 15 hours til the big day!