Now we're back home from Orlando and had a very nice time in the warm weather going to Universal Studios a couple of times, and one day driving out to the Space Coast for lunch. I saw a shark fin out in the bay, just circling around, so elected not to stick my foot into the water to see how warm it was.

Flying back yesterday, we were fortunate to be coming to Las Vegas instead of somewhere in the midwest or along the eastern seaboard - many, many flights were delayed and cancelled, including ours due to the ripple effect. People had no idea if they were going to be able to get their screaming, bratty kids and squalling babies home. I really don't know the point of bringing an 8 month-old baby thousands of miles on an airplane to theme parks aside from selfishness on the parents' part. The baby certainly doesn't get much out of it. A dog would have a better time. And traveling with children these days involves bringing both car seats and strollers that have to be either checked with the baggage or checked at the gate.

We really enjoyed the flight home because now that we can use electronic devices during the flight, we took advantage of Southwest Airlines' free limited wifi to watch our progress and compare it to the scenery out the window. There was snow on the ground reflecting the moonlight, so we could see the mountains and other geographic features as well as the lights of small towns and thanks to that tracking program, we knew exactly what we were looking at.

Christmas is fast approaching and I am going to have to come up with a nice dinner for my cousin Betsy and Mr. Troutbend, as well as some gifts for her. Since I'm not in a shopping kind of mood, I'm probably going to give her cash, as boring as that sounds, but she really needs it. Her sister sent me a check for $65 to convert to cash and put with a card. I don't know how she came up with that amount.

She has to have some things to unwrap, so to fill in, I'm going to get some food items I know she will like, including fancy hot cocoa mixes. Land 'o Lakes makes a nice collection of flavored cocoas - raspberry, white chocolate, and warm oatmeal cookie - that make a good gift.