“Ole Bing” was singing about a “White Christmas” and the whole Martinez family had gathered together to celebrate as they did every year. Joey sat on the floor surrounded by his presents. Gifts from his Mom and Dad, and gifts from his brothers and sisters too. Having older brothers and sisters sure was nice when it came to Christmas!

"So what happened to your nephew Mark?" Denise asked. "Did Marcie come instead?"

"Yeah, sort of," Jane replied, laughing. "It's a funny story–"

Before she could start, I blurted out, "I'm Mark. I'm her nephew Mark."

Cathy has a tough time with her favourite shrink, upsetting the good doctor in the process. Still no plot to speak of, but what's new?

Easy As Turning Out This Drivel.
by Angharad & Virginia Creeper.(A bit of a social climber).
part: 150-1

I must have gone to bed the previous night because I woke up in one, my own. I was so tired, the night before, I hadn't remembered climbing the stairs and getting undressed. My mouth felt as if I hadn't cleaned my teeth and my tongue seemed to have more fur than the average dormouse.

This was not what my father wanted for me. I thought that fairly often, these days. I shook my head to make the thoughts go away, and opened up my ledger. With Engineblock disappearing, I only had to manage eleven, ah, free-range bodyguards for Heavy Sal Hadrian. Well, until Salvatore found him another fella to round out his 'Double Half-Dozen' again. In this business, you needed guys like Engineblock and Niner, but at least Heavy Sal used the threat more than he acted on it. Heh. Kind of like the 'good' gang of mobsters in that Keaton movie back in the '80s... what was it called again?