Evening! Nice reindeer scarf. Come on in, can I take your coat?

Beth is here already, and probably wondering what she's doing doing dressed to the nines at a holiday party at 10 AM, PST. But she's an old TW hand, and understands that the party starts any time we want, because it's always night, or day, or whatever you want it to be, somewhere in TennisWorld. I'm not sure Gauloises is coming until a little later, and be warned - smoking is allowed at this party. And that dude(ette) smokes like she gets paid for it!

Jackie-Oh is in the kitchen, preparing what she claims is her killer buche de noel. Anybody know what she's talking about? Is that some kind of tree?  I'm proud of the fact that when Jackie ordered me to put out some of the nibblings and snacks, I fought off the urge to eat all the Brazil nuts before anyone even got here.

The week before Christmas is always such a rush, and it's extra tough this time because I'm heading to Bradenton, Fla., tomorrow, to write a "Day in the Life" piece on Nick Bollettieri. That will be for the mothership, but I'll do a post on my visit as well. And, of course, I still have some Christmas shopping to do. My wife, Lisa, kind of wants an Ipod but she thinks they're too expensive. I was ecstatic when, returning from the farm with Cowboy Luke and Asad, I popped into Wal-Mart to return a heated blanket and found a Star Wars Tie-fighter (complete with Darth Vadar figurine) that - you don't have to put together out of 450 pieces! That means Christmas morning, he can just rip off the packaging and get busy. Yes, there is a God.

What can I get you to drink? Lleytsie, as promised, brought along some vintage Shiraz for the women, and some Cooper's ("for us blokes"). But the bar is pretty well stocked. You'll have no trouble identifying our off-the-(electrical)grid dancin' fool Rudy3, either. As she wrote late last night, in a pitch-perfect comment that somehow really caught the holiday party vibe:

Ok, well I'm bringing Patron and tortilla rollups (my specialty). I'll be the redhead in the kitchen wearing a black turtleneck, gap jeans and a smokin pair of Kenneth Cole boots. My subject du jour will be how Colt McCoy got gipped out of the Heisman, and how the BCS sucks. I should a joy to be around :), that is until the Patron kicks in, then I'll be funny and slightly loud.

Love how she wrote,"slightly" loud.

Once the party gets rolling I'll have to check out for a few hours and go pick up the cowpoke at school and get him fed and to bed, but I'll be back around 9 PM tonight to hang out until ?????.

And don't worry about dropping a dollop of dip or a pig in the blanket on the floor, the dog will take care of it. This is a dog-friendly and smoker-friendly and just-about-everything friendly party!

Oh, let me get a picture up, ASAP. . .