Great work project, but I missed out on the denouement because of illness.  I brought it on myself by not setting better boundaries, but I'm more than a little angry and hurt.  That's part of life and part of the human connection that binds gay folks with straight folks -- we feel things, we ache, we celebrate, we love, we mourn. 

This past month, the wife of Ledcat's brother made it clear that I am not her sister-in-law.  Ouch.  Eight Christmases and I'm just extended family.  Treated politely, but not preferentially.  Sigh.  That really hurts.  Two other former friends really dropped the ball, too.  Timing, as they say, is everything. 

I am very anti-Christmas this year.  The project consumed my life for 5 weeks and now I'm ready to move on to debriefing and planning for next year.  That excites me.  Stocking stuffers do not.  I used to really like that, but now I'm just hoping to find a take out turkey dinner from Boston Market on xmas eve so I can enjoy the best part of the holiday - food.  :-) 

I realize I didn't adopt anyone. I wanted to not play favorites and knew I would go overboard so I held back.  Maybe that was a mistake. 

Anyway, the good news is that I'm looking forward to January!