Hallooo! A quick note as I recover from a weekend spent in the heaving bosom of my family.

Husband and I looked forward to the holiday weekend with, as always, a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. Any fears we had were mitigated, however, by the discovery of the magic-formula-for-burying-familial-tension: intense physical activity followed by heavy drinking.

I recommend this to everyone. Spend your days with your loved ones engaged in some sort of really exhausting exercise- for us it was skiing, but I'd imagine that skating, swimming, hiking or bicycling would do just as well- and on return to the homestead, break out the scotch. Any simmering stress will be effectively tamped down by the third "Jim Beam, neat, with a beer back" and everyone will love everyone, probably demonstrably.

Case in point- this past weekend. My brother and his boyfriend, both normally neurotic and prone to panic attacks, were reduced to platitute-spouting, happy shells of their former selves. My brother and I even vowed to keep in touch more and better (considering that I am what I am, and he's a corporate partner in another biglaw universe, I'm guessing that resolution will be short-lived, but whatevs). My dad regaled us with the same 3 stories 10 times each, as per usual, but this weekend we actually found them funny, at least for the first 5 times or so. We lamented politics, laughed at the absurdity that was the University of Akron playing in a bowl game, and generally had a very nice time.

Happy holidays, everyone. I promise more frequent and hopefully more interesting posting in the new year.