“It always looks darkest just before it gets totally black.”

That is a quote from Charlie Brown.

I think it kind of says it all. I passed a house in my little island town today that had a little Charlie Brown display outside of it.

I made Alex pull over so I could take a photo. That tree, that sad little ornament, that little piece of blue cloth at the tree's base was so wonderful it took my breath away.

There's a little bit of Charlie in all of us even if we don't like to admit it. Whether we are taking the cork out of a lovely 2006 Paraduxx from the Napa Valley, or opening a box of wine from the bargain section at the supermarket, we are more the same than we are different.

We went to a little Christmas party this evening. Because my neighbor was having the party, I felt a little obligated to attend although I knew that my neighbor had invited mostly people from her church. Because Alex and I are devout pagans, I thought we would feel a little out of place with the Bible people.

Although the conversation never really turned to religion, I found that most of the people were actually very nice. In fact, surprisingly, it wasn't even difficult for me to keep four-letter words out of my conversation.

I was so fucking happy when two hours had passed and we could come back home.