My Twelve Days of Christmas

One day before Christmas, my raucous, blended family dropped by to see me.

Two bathrooms to clean

Three entrees to cook (turkey, pork loin, vegetarian)

Four mopey teenagers

Five employed, married, live-in-their-own-house, grownup children

Six rolls of Costco wrapping paper

Seven phone calls from funny-sounding people wanting my Visa pin number

Eight bottles of delicious, soothing on the nerves, red wine

Nine pairs of pajamas to buy for grandkids

Ten pounds gained on the bathroom scale

Eleven funny Santa hats waiting for little heads

And twelve months to recover my bank balance, goal weight, and sanity.

Feliz Christmas, y’all!

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Raquel Martina Martinez

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