Holiday Smiles

Sometimes unexpected gifts arrive at Christmas. There are host gifts you receive when you throw a party, then there are those dreaded gift exchanges, where most of the re-gifting occurs at work parties and such. This year I got several of those kinds of gifts. But there are also times during the holidays when you get a gift that you were not expecting, I got one of those this year.

On the eve of Christmas eve my friend Linda and I were supposed to meet our good friend Catherine who I worked with on the Obama campaign. Catherine was in Charlotte to pick up her friend Todd from Los Angeles, who came to North Carolina to spend the holiday with her. On the day we were supposed to meet I was feeling a bit overwhelmed about house chores and the dinner party I was hosting on Christmas eve, so I called Catherine to give my apologies, I was not going to be able to meet up with them after all.

It was not too long after that that Linda called me, knowing exactly which buttons to push that would get me to agree to meet up with them. It's what I love about Linda, she knows when I am being a big baby and wanting to stay closed in. So anyway we finally met up with them at their hotel downtown where we polished off some appetizers and there was the requisite martini's at our second stop, a bar called Therapy which has over fifty martini's on the menu. We were a motley crew the four of us. We joked that if we were the characters from Will & Grace, I would be Will, Catherine would be Grace, Linda would be Karen and Todd would be Jack. Our alter egos were in full display as the evening wore on.

The four of us joked and laughed throughout the evening. It was a good diversion from my thoughts about the impending dinner party and everything that I had yet to get done at the house. There was also a fair amount of chemistry going on between Jack and Will. Phone numbers were exchanged as well as email addresses and texting was just around the corner. I rode with Catherine and Todd back to their hotel after we left Linda at her house. We arrived at the hotel and I said my goodbyes. Off to Chapel Hill they were going on Christmas eve. Then Todd and I start texting, the usual kind of stuff, nothing too racy or anything.

Sooooo the Sunday after Christmas Todd and Catherine drove all the way back to Charlotte. The four of us met up at the Ponderosa and we went out to have brunch together. Brunch was awesome and we were treated to a Panther win which was even better. When the four of us got back to the house Karen and Grace took off for the mall and Will and Jack spent some time getting to know each other alone. That very evening I booked a flight to LA to go and visit him. How spontaneous can you get? So in three weeks I am flying to LA to spend the weekend with this great guy that ended up being the best surprise I got this Christmas.

This holiday brought lots of smiles, one of the biggest belonged to me. Watch out 2010, cause it is gonna be a great year.