The third day after Christmas, my Mother caught the croup
I had to use the three French Hens to make some chicken soup
The four calling birds were a big mistake for their language was obscene
The five golden rings were completely fake and they turned my fingers green.

– The Twelve Days After Christmas, by Frederick Silver

I’m writing this tonight from the Hilton Garden Inn in Bossier City, Louisiana. We drove here earlier today so Mom could see her older sister for the first time since last October, and I got a suite for us plus a room for my mother (because none of us were willing to sleep on a sofa bed), but since we’re not staying in a casino, the rooms were really reasonable, and it’s only for one night. Why a suite? Because Mom is allergic to cats, and my aunt has cats, so having a suite meant after we left the restaurant (Gibbons – great food; reasonable prices) we had an allergen-free place to hang out and visit for a bit.

I had a pot of coffee sent to the room (literally, they sent an urn) and we shared one enormous slice of cheesecake, and it was a nice way to catch up without anyone having to wash a dish. I gave my aunt and uncle and cousin some Dude, Sweet Chocolate, which is possibly the best chocolate on Earth, and they gave us local coffee and biscotti, made by the people in the care home where my cousin is a nurse.

We’re meeting for brunch tomorrow, at a place we went to twice when we were here last year, and then heading home. Mom leaves for her home in La Paz, BCS, Mexico on Sunday morning, and I plan to spend Sunday sleeping and cuddling dogs.

For now, though, we’re in Louisiana, and we’re such wild people at at 10:30 at night on a weekend, all I want to do is shower and sleep.