Thanksgiving, et al

I, too, hope all here (participant and visitor alike) had a happy, safe and satisfying Holiday!

My holiday was rather typical of that experienced by casino personnel everywhere... I worked. This would not be a factor were it not for the fact that my girlfriend-fiance, Elizabeth, is NOT used to the casino lifestyle and its requisite holiday schedule.

For the last 7 months, I have had a relatively easy day-shift schedule... 7:30 am till 4 pm. When I finally got my supervisor promotion, I was forced to go back to graveyard (11 pm till 7 am). This is a difficult schedule regardless of the industry it is conducted in... especially with kids involved (of which there are three), but when it is couped with the fact that I am forced to work the occasional holiday as a matter of course, then there is bound to be some unhappiness somewhere, right?

To put it mildly, I dropped the ball... big time. As the children were with their father and family all day, I thought that the big dinner (deep-fried bird, taters, trimmings) should wait till the family was together... say, the weekend. Liz had "mentioned" getting some work done, and I had taken that to mean nothing special or extravagant was required (HUGE mistake on my part). So...

I slept. From 9 am till about 12:30. Then the fun started...

Don't worry though... I'm not out on the street looking for a new place to live. We seem to have reached an understanding (which is the really wonderful thing about this woman... we fight, but at least there is RESOLUTION to an issue in the end!), and we salvaged the remainder of the day rather nicely, I think.

So, I hope all here enjoyed the food, fun and family that this uniquely American holiday brings to our homes each fall, and that if you were lucky enough to spend it with your loved ones, that you cherished the moments and memories... and if you couldn't spend it with those loved ones, then you anticipate the chance all the more next time.

Here's hoping I get Christmas right!