Granma Winona was away for the day. Cousin Peter was on an Academy field trip to Cestus Three. Suzanne, Jim, and their crews were tied up at an alumni dinner they could not get out of.

Yet, a babysitter was found, even in late December, three days before Christmas. Instructed to let Alex play his stash of ancient Christmas vids, the babysitter found them off-putting, and queried his young charge about them. Alex was patient, throughout it all.

"Well, Daddy says that Burgermeister Meisterburger was hauled off with Bin Laden, Khan, Green, Kodos and a bunch of other bad guys, after Santa took over the North Pole."

"Okay, see, the magician was bad, so he couldn't make Frosty's hat work right."

"The fog was reaaallly bad that one Christmas Eve, and some of the other reindeer, like Rudolph's Dad, needed a light, cause of their vision was going, like Daddy's is."

"Yeah. I'm sorry Nestor's Mom hadda die, too."

"The way I see it is, Mother Nature only lets HeatMiser and SnowMiser think they're running the weather. I got two friends like them, and their Mom won't let them touch anything."

Finally, as Suzanne and Jim returned, one last vid was ending.

"That tree. I mean, there's just no way it could go from being all scrawny to all full and beautiful like that!"

The babysitter nodded in total agreement.

"Indeed, Alex. Spock made the same observation, at your age. But my wife Amanda insists that it keeps with the 'Peanuts' theme. She often says such things, to my consternation."

Alex looked up.

"What a dumb girl. Why'd you marry her?"

(Merry Christmas, JK!)     : )