Christmas was everything I had hoped it would be, and I hope it was for all of you as well. We cheated this year though, and went to one of the Resorts for Christmas Brunch with the kids. Now near rum-dumb exhaustion from all the prep work, my hubby and I are off to spend a week in Laughlin Nevada just the two of us. After that gluttony of delicious food, a nap is sounding more palpable, then a 5 hour drive across the desert. But will be worth it, getting away from the day to day schedule, phones, and housework.

My favorite gift this year, came from my baby. It was three pieces of torn scratch paper, taped half hazard together, with a little poem he wrote me. When he was a toddler, for approximately 3 years, his favorite book for me to read him was, I love you forever. For mommies of young children I highly recommend it. Every time I would read Riley this book, my eyes would fill with tears, my throat would constrict, threatening to reduce me to sobs, and I would struggle to make my way thru it. He would have me read it to him over and over, just to watch me choke up, fascinated with his mommy crying. (Should I be scared?)

The gist of it was a mother telling her son every night, I’ll like for always, I’ll love you forever, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be. The story moved throughout the young boys life, until he was a full grown man. Towards the end of the book, when the young mans mother was sick, he helped her to bed, and told her; “I’ll like you for always, I’ll love you forever, as long as I’m living, my mommy you’ll be.” Get the book, I’m butchering it here!

Back to my point, the little message Riley left me on these scraps of paper were, “ To Mom, from Riley. I will like you forever, I will love you forever, as long as I’m living, my mommy you’ll be.” That’s it, that’s all he wrote. And I will cherish these scraps of paper forever. Actually, I intend on framing them, so that when the Principal calls me within the next month, with Riley’s latest stunt, I can look at his message to me, and not see his stunt, as anything more then childhood exuberance misplaced. Hopefully…

Kevin, the hubby, has something to say now. Hope everyone has a wonderful week this week, and I’ll catch up with you in the New Year!

Love,

3T

By the time you reading this, 3T and I will be in our favorite
haunt--Laughlin, Nev.
For those of you who have never heard of this gem, it’s a quarter-century
old gambling town in the southeast corner of Nevada, just across from
Arizona, where the Colorado River and the high desert mountains provide
wonderful scenery if you’re lucky to get a riverside room in one of about
eight hotels that line the river banks. You don’t even have to be a gambler
to enjoy Laughlin’s treasures. If you’re a movie buff who likes your glass,
the Riverside hotel-casino, the first one built on what was once just empty
desert, offers a splendid multiplex where you can buy alcoholic beverages
and sip while you rock in comfortable chairs before a big screen with
superb sound. If your an outdoorsperson, you can mount a jet ski and
cruises up and down the river, darting around the cruise boats that also
are available to people, like us, who aren’t necessarily young enough any
more to play on these skis. And shoppers ought to find a nice way to pass
the time in the Outlet Mall right on the strip, although it could stand to
have a few more designer names like the big outlet mall in Palm Springs.
Before I moved to Phoenix, I lived in Philly, where Atlantic City was the
closest gaming town. It is by the filthy Atlantic Ocean, so if you could
close your eyes to the dirty water and keep the smell from getting to you,
walking along the rocky beach was ok. But beyond the boardwalk in AC was a
nightmare: The city is a giant ghetto, and the merchants who populated the
main thoroughfare that parallels the beachfront is an ugly, rundown
collection of liquor joints, aging adult books stores, and altogether
unsightly storefronts.
What a difference Laughlin offers!
It’s 90 miles south of Vegas, and while Vegas offers far more casinos,
better restaurants and an altogether far more garish scene, Laughlin offers
an almost restful place to gamble. No 5-mile hikes (or so it seems) from
one casino to another. No pricey meals to purchase. No Guatemalans snapping
cards offering call girls in your face as you walk down the main street.
Laughlin is quite the opposite: The best way to enter the casinos is from
the back, because they all front the river and offer a pleasant stroll as
you take a breather from the tables.
But most of all, Laughlin offers me and my bride a chance to escape
completely. We park our van and never get back in it until we’re ready to
leave. We can stay in the hotel if we want to and just have fun with each
other. And when we do decide to gamble, the places are friendly with
friendly people--far from the noisy and sometimes even scary gambling dens
you find in Vegas.
And while the weather will be chilly this trip because it’s December, we
won’t be freezing or cursing the snow. We’ll just be hopping from one place
to the next, or just hopping in bed.
So have a happy holiday week, everyone.
I know 3T and I will.

3T on Santas (the hubby Kevin) Lap.

I’m off to defile and violate Santa, in 20 different ways! (A few of which I’ve only read about) hehehehehe....

Love,

3T