We had a Tofurkey (no, they aren't actually turkey shaped - they're more like rubbery haggises) for Thanksgiving, so we didn't want to repeat ourselves, and as we're all trying various wacky diets, we decided just to have two lasagnas, one GF, for Christmas dinner. But on Christmas morning Jami casually asked "do you think there's anywhere open that sells ricotta cheese?" Turns out, I discovered, after an hour-and-a-half tour of Flint, no there isn't. Gas stations and very depressing liquor stores (which, in Michigan, have the optimistic and misleading name of "Party Stores") sell exactly the same sad selection of milk and little bags of grated cheese for the sad lonely drunk who can't even grate their own. So we had to settle for pre-grated mozzarella. But it tasted fine, so Christmas was saved! Then, early the next morn, everybody but Frederick and me got up and sped to the airport, where Thomas, Jimmy and Grandma were loaded on a plane for Virginia, where Grandma had booked a holiday for 4 days. And let me tell you, it has been a blissful 4 days for those of us left behind. We did get one phone call from G'ma on the first night, telling us that Thomas abandoned Jimmy in a bathroom in Chicago airport, and as the gate changed for their flight G'ma panicked and had Thomas called over the airport tannoy, much to his chagrin, but after that it has been total radio silence. It's like the Simpsons Kamp Krusty episode where Homer is so happy he loses weight and regrows hair while the kids are at camp. We've watched a different artsy fartsy black and white movie every night with NO INTERRUPTIONS.
