This morning a package was delivered to our front door. We were happy to see it was from a friend in Germany who we met when he was an foreign exchange High School student. "How nice it was for him to think of us", we said. We partially opened the box and saw it was two boxes of kinder-eggs. Kinder eggs are a confection consisting of a chocolate shell surrounding a one inch diameter yellow plastic capsular shaped container with a small toy inside and only available over there. Our friend had somewhat of a sweet tooth and introduced us to the Kinder Eggs, and we became quite fond of them.

We had seen that it had been inspected which didn't surprise us, but when we opened the package completely we found that in addition to the Christmas card wishing us well, was a nasty letter from the US Customs and Border Protection! They informed us that the shipment contained items that were determined an illegal importation had been seized under "schedule I and II controlled substances" which outlawed various named drugs and firearms. It went on to say that "these items are considered contraband and are immediately forfeited to the United States". And sure enough, both boxes and been opened and the eggs were removed, leaving us with the only the legal contents, which were the cardboard box and the plastic, egg shaped tray. We are assigned a case number.

With strains "Alice's Restaurant" running through my head, I thought that somewhere in Washington is a study in black and white of David and Charla and their wayward German friend's attempt to smuggle chocolate eggs into the country. Is this just another example of blind justice or is is it just a case of the g-men at customs enjoying the chocolate and playing with the toys?

Now I only have to survive winter AND making the Star Trek Uniform that I promised I'd make for a friend. It's going to be her wedding dress.

OK, I will admit I pretend to enjoy xmas with the best of them. And I do actually enjoy the seasonal inspiring strains of screaming electric guitars playing Christmas Music. I might be crazy, but when I hear Trans -Siberian Orchestera's Mad Russian's Christmas, I get chills. And the louder the better! I also enjoy Hendrix's Christmas medley. Ahh, the sweet sounds of Xmas.

We Just put up our Christmas tree for the first time in years alone. A long time ago we choose to be just us, now its that way again. To me when your kid grows up and leaves is like being fired from the only job you've ever loved after 21 years. So strange, but thats life.

Actually though, I've been bah, humbugging Christmas since *I* left home. You feel obligated to visit every relative, in-laws and out-laws alike, and spend hundreds of dollars on gifts for people who don't need or want anything. Christmas is just a big ball of stress with tinsel on it.

Yesterday Lorraine's diploma from Indiana University college of Arts and Sciences. She graduated in just 3 years! My daughter is a very talented artist! check her out here [link]