I'm up at this hour because I am trying to keep the Tar Heels from losing another game to the so called big 10.

So...I will tell you about our 2011 Christmas tree.

It is really the most beautiful tree ever! No kidding this time. I know that I said we put every ornament we had on the tree two years ago, but I lied. This year EVERY ORNAMENT that is not broken is on this big fat tree!

Our tree is a history of our family's Christmas throughout the years.

 Ornaments made by Emily and Brinkley at Mount Bethel Elementary...

A beautiful ball Pat and I bought on our honeymoon...

Butterfly ornaments that Emily gave us one year. She had noticed that Pat always gave me butterflies. And several additions this year; retro ones much like the ones that have been saved from my childhood tree.

Of course Alonzo our Christmas Elf is always the first to appear every year. No one is quite sure where he stays all year but he is right there as soon as the tree goes up. According to the notes that he leaves each year he lives at the North Pole.

Angels that my Dad had coming from the top of the tree down into the fairy land under the tree still survive. I think it may have been 1955.

Things I am not thankful for...

...don't get me wrong, I am still thankful for all the great things in my life, but really, there are some annoying things about thanksgiving.

The arguments and hard feelings that accompany the annual decision regarding who sits at the "kids table".

The never ending search for the perfect cornbread dressing recipe. You would think I would have found it by now.

The help lines to call about cooking a turkey. Just put the thing in a pan and throw it in the oven for crying out loud.

No wine really goes with all the different butter laden dishes.

The national dog show...I do not understand why the women who run with their dogs wear the homeliest shoes. YOUR FEET ARE ON TV!!

TV reporters at airports reporting the crowds. It's old and we know there are crowds.

The decorations that accompany the holiday are butt ugly! Turkeys are gross and Pilgrims are grim.

Thanksgiving is not Christmas and there should be no Christmas decorations until after the big meal.

BLACK FRIDAY is the worst of all things associated with this day of gorging. Shootings at malls, pepper spray in stores, pushing, and total rudeness mark this ridiculous exercise in free market capitalism.

There! Now on to decorating everything in my world!

"Oops"

It has now become ridiculous. Please get serious Republicans, we are talking about the Presidency.

It's a great day in the land of sane people.

In all parts of this great country people rejected the ideological right last night! I have hope. Mississippi rejected the so called "personhood" amendment, Ohio came alive and stood up for real people, the author of the ridiculous immigration bill in Arizona went down in a recall, AND right here in NC the Wake County Board of Education is back in the hands of Democrats. Let's not forget that here in the "Pitt" Randy Voller was reelected and two Democratic women won seats on the town council!!!! We are alive and kicking and 2012 doesn't look so bad!!!!!!

Excuse Me!!!

No, we will not excuse you Mr. Cain. You are no longer operating in the cocoon of Atlanta talk radio. You apparently want to be the President of the United States and you now must address questions from people who may not agree with you or like you. You cannot just hang up on them...this is not the insular world of the right wing echo chamber. Welcome to the real world. If you have been charged with sexual harassment it IS the public's business and people have the right to question you. The issue is not that someone "told" on you, the issue is that you could have used your position at the NRA to subject women to behavior that is not acceptable.

Aside from this unfortunate situation you apparently do not understand the complicated world in which we live. Sitting in a radio station and spouting crap to people who are as ill informed as you are is not comparable to running for the most powerful office in the world. The gig is up.

Brilliant! Only Maureen Dowd could bring Jane Austen into the Cain fiasco.

"Cain not Able", Dowd's piece in the NYT today is a must read.