We had a lovely evening at the Bahama Breeze restaurant. Although it took a bit longer to get to the restaurant, but oh so typical of me, than anticipated. I had thought it was in this one location close to a mall BUT it wasn't. It was the next exit down off the freeway. But we did find it and enjoyed ourselves in the company of low lighting and palm trees. Bahama Breeze can also be found in several other cities. It features a Jamaican atmosphere and menu full of mangos, plantains (which are sliced thin and fried and are tastier than potato chips by a long shot), jerked meats, seafood, and coconut. Great tasting stuff. I had the paella full of different seafood and Bill had the jerked pork over a mound of mashed potatoes. Usually we don't get appetizers but when I saw conch & shrimp fritters I just had to get it. I wanted to see how similar it was to the wonderful conch fritters we always get at Frenchy's in Clearwater, Florida. This version was very, very similar and the dipping sauce was, too. But the beauty of the evening came when we were on our way out and Bill spied a stuffed manatee sitting on the shelves of the souvenier shop in the foyer of the restaurant. He made a beeline for them and said, "Look at these, Jo!" We looked at the price and decided that it was within our means and promptly took the cutest one to the cash register. Who woulda figured that we could find a manatee in Ohio? It was one of those irresistible finds and what a perfect birthday present for me. Here she is, Bubbles the manatee, proud mascot of Jomammatee.dynu.com. Meanwhile, back to the tree decorating. Actually, I'm making some progress. I've run out of bears and birds to hang and am halfway through the bulbs. That's when I finally decided to update the family names on the bulbs. I don't know if you do this for Christmas but I've always done this and Amy is carrying on the tradition with her tree. I think my mom used to do this. I'm not sure, I could ask my brother because he might remember better being older than me. You use Elmer's glue--white glue of some sort--and thinly write a family name on a Christmas bulb. Then you take glitter and sprinkle on the glue making sure you cover all the letters. Hang up to dry. They can be hung on the Christmas tree to dry but I hung them on my computer desk for now since I didn't want to run out to the living room after I was done with each one of them. They look rather festive hanging there don't you agree? You can't see the lettering very well from there, sorry. Finally, I've got the granchildren and spouses all a part of the tree. Well, the Muckheads have beckoned. They've enticed me with going to a play in downtown Columbus, eggnog and rum, Christmas music all night, and Christmas cheer. Then tomorrow, lunch at Panda Inn and Christmas browsing with my daughter. Plus, I've still got that coat of Kip's to take back. Yeh, sounds like fun. I might as well go. And, by golly, even though you didn't see it, I've got my Christmas tree done now--in between talking to Amy on the phone, downloading some more Christmas music, and making Bill's lunch when he came home. Poor Bill will be spending the night alone. But I'll be back.