I always manage to go overboard and drink a lot right up until the New Year's countdown. It's like the world's going to stop turning at midnight and we have to drink all we can before then. Well, I got news for ya, THE WORLD IS NOT GOING TO STOP TURNING! Pace yourself, man! Have a lighter hand with the liquor this New Year's Eve and save your liver for the rest of the year! Of course this is me talking. And if you really know me, you'd do what I say and not do what I do! Ha Ha.

I haven't been feeling good about it. I already miss her and the house has been deafeningly quiet all of a sudden. Then my old buddy Adrian called up. He's moving to NYC and he wanted to crash at my place. We were in the same classes in freshman and sophomore year in college. He has very interesting background, He's half Chinese, half Puerto Rican. I'm really looking forward to having him in the house for a while.

As for Aaliyah and I, somewhere along the line, maybe we just lost the connection. There were always so many things going on at the same time. There's the holidays, the snow, my friends, her friends, her life is moving in a different direction, I'm trying to deal with day-to-day issues, she's looking at the bigger picture and long term. We're just not cut out for each other and we're not going to be bitter about it.

We've always hated old and stale fruitcakes, especially the store-bought ones that people give as gifts when they don't know what to get. Actually, does ANYONE bake home-made fruitcakes anymore? We have a couple of theories, one that fruitcake was first made when Mrs. Claus took the crumbs that had be there for a while on Santa's beard. Another is that there is just one fruitcake and it's been circulating the globe for at least the past 40 years...

Last year, I dropped by to wish her a "Merry Christmas". Kids were running around like mad. They were probably high on candy canes! They looked like it was the first time they saw candy or sugar. "Hi, Mrs. Radcliffe! How are you?" I asked as she opened the door with the kids swirling past around us. "Oh, Bob how nice of you to come." She was beaming with joy because her grand kids were there. Her son, Nick flew in with his family from Cali. He doesn't do that every year so it was a great time for Mrs. Radcliffe to have them.

Just as I entered the house we heard a yell. It was Nick's wife, Elaine, "NICK! Come fast! NOW" I smelled smoke and we went into the living room. It was total chaos. The Christmas tree, heavy with decorations was engulfed in flames. The scene was something out of a movie! The kids were screaming and the noise was really deafening and getting on my nerves. I just picked them up, one on my left and one on my right and ran out of the house away from the smoke.

Nick grabbed some blankets and put it on the fire and it went out eventually. There was smoke everywhere. Elaine started sobbing, "I don't know what to do with these kids!" I could tell she was high on something else too. Someone probably put a little too much rum in the egg nog!

"Well, why don't you guys come on over to my place. I'm having some people over. We can have some fun." I said, more out of courtesy than the "holiday spirit". Elaine stopped crying. SIGH!!! It worked! They got their coats and walked to my place.

He said, "One year, my parents decided to have a Christmas party. My mother made her Egg Nog Punch and was making a huge bowl for the party. She put me on deviled egg prep, while she measured out the rum and brandy to be added to the mixture."

'This egg nog is just for the grownups, you hear?' she said to me, 'I'll save some plain egg nog for you and your brothers in the refrigerator.' Now, I love a good cup of homemade egg nog and I was planning on drinking most of it before my brothers even found out it was there," Steve said.

"Once it was ready, she went to get ready for the party. I put the big punch bowl on the buffet table with the rest of the food, then I went for the egg nog in the refrigerator, saved just for us." Just like Steve to focus on the important things, I thought. "Next thing I heard was a scream from the dining room. My mother was yelling and cursing at someone. Then I saw Dudley running at me from that direction, his whole face covered in egg nog!" laughed Steve.

"'That dog just drank a whole punch bowl of egg nog!' Mom cried. She wasn't that upset about the egg nog as she was about the rum and brandy that had been in it. It was clear that Dudley was in distress. A human only has two legs to coordinate – Dudley had four and they just weren't working together. After two desperate attempts to walk, he simply fell down clocking his head on the floor," said Steve.

"Oh,no!" cried Megan, "What did you do?" Steve replied, "Well, the party was in full swing by now, and our town vet had arrived. He popped his head in to see Dudley."

"Oh yes, Uncle Bob. I think World Peace is more important than Christmas," she said. Shocked, but pleased with her response, I kidded her. "But what about the presents? The food? Visiting Grandma and Grandpa?"

There was one year when I was a kid, my cousins were staying over for the holidays. It was right after a very heavy snowstorm and we were "snowed in". Roads were blocked and some of the government offices were closed down. We were itching to get out of the house to go make a snowman but my mom told us we weren’t supposed to go out until she said, "okay". As soon as snow stopped, we went out of my bedroom window because we couldn’t really get the doors to open.

We cleared out the snow in front of the garage to open up the garage door. Then an idea dawned on me and I shouted, "Let's make the snowman inside the garage!" The idea made my cousin’s eyes sparkle. "YEAH!" they shouted out. We took out the wheelbarrow that Dad used for gardening and started putting snow in it. I shoveled some snow out of my neighbor’s walkway to get some pocket money too!

We piled up lots of snow inside the garage and started building the snow man. We were so involved in our work of art that we forgot about the time and what we were doing. Then suddenly Steve said, "Hey, it’s dark out!" I looked out the garage door and saw that it was really dark out and we were probably approaching dinner time. Then my mom came through the door of the house into the garage and she GASPED very loudly. She saw that we used stuff we found around the garage for the snowman’s face. There were old screws that made up his eyes and old nuts that were no longer useful that made up his smiling face. After the shock my mom braced herself and said, "I’ve been looking all over for you guys! It’s freezing cold out here. At least close the garage door. Dinner will be ready in 20 minutes."

Rachel, gave me a look of contempt, opened a children's encyclopedia and started to explain, Wilbur and Orville Wright were two American brothers who are credited with the making of the first successful airplane. On December 17, 1903 they made a successful flight with a heavier-than-air, engine-powered aircraft. Thus 17th December was declared as the "Wright Brothers Day. We have to write an essay on them at school."

"Why are you asking me when you have the book?" I asked. "Uncle Bob, our teacher says that you should have some basic general knowledge," shot back Rachel. "Especially, you should know about the famous people who made big things! But you don't know it!" her eyes were fiery. She was really mad at me. She kept nodding her head with disapproval and slammed her book and went back to her room.

"She got bored of shopping?" asked Steve. To tell you the truth, I was curious too.

"Dunno," shrugged Rick. "She’s been listening to classical music, like Beethoven all the time."

Hmm... Kate and classical music don't really go well together. We wanted to know what’s up so we headed over to Kate’s place. It was a bit of surprise visit and Kate was delighted to see us of course. As we entered her room, it looked like as if we entered a music museum. There were number of CDs of Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi and even books about them on the coffee table. It looked less like pleasure reading and more like a study hall.

"What’s cookin’ Katie? I never thought you were so fond of this kind of music." I could not help but ask her. "Oh Bob!" Kate beamed. "Nothing special. Jeffrey gave me Beethoven CDs and I loved it. So I’m just reading up on the subject," said Kate happily. Jeffrey? Who is Jeffrey? I narrowed my eyes. Perhaps Kate saw my mind wonder...

"Jeffrey is a friend who lives nearby. He’s studying at Julliard and he teaches piano to kids. He loves Beethoven and gave me a CD to listen. He introduced me to Beethoven again and I really liked it this time," said the dreamy eyed Kate.

Rick, Kong and I went over to his place to help him out with the decorations. The door was open so we went inside. His place was a mess of course. Christmas decorations were everywhere. Then Mr. Elder came down with a big box of Christmas lights and saw us. "Oh good, you kids are here," said Mr. Elder. I need you guys to help out with a little outdoor project." Of course, we were excited. Anything outdoors to play with snow is fantastic.

Mr. Elder took out long strings of Christmas lights from the box. He said, "Okay, just untangle them and connect them together." We started assembling the long string of Christmas lights and it became really, really long. "Let’s go out from the garage," said Mr. Elder and we went out holding the long string of Christmas lights. We went outside onto the front lawn, Mr. Elder leading the way. Mr. Elder put down his end of the lights and said, "Wait here for a moment." He came out again with a ladder.

He put the ladder against the house and grabbed his end of the Christmas lights and went up the ladder to the roof. "Be careful Mr. Elder. It’s icy and slippery even down here!" shouted Rick. Even Kong started barking. Maybe it was his way of telling us to be cautious. Mr. Elder got to the roof and secured the lights around the chimney. He was going across the roof slowly and the lights were coming along pretty well.

All of a sudden, he came sliding down the roof but his leg was caught with the Christmas lights. There was a loud CRASH against the living room window, Kong started barking even louder. It was like something out of a movie and I just froze. There was broken glass everywhere inside the living room. Startled, Rick yelled out "Oh No!!! It’s Mr. Elder hanging upside down from the roof!" I still could not move with all the noise. Rick shook me really hard and yelled, "Bobby! Bobby! Call 9-1-1. Get the paramedics and the fire department. Bobby, move it man!"

Life came back to me and I looked for the phone. Rick moved the ladder so he could reach Mr. Elder and hold him until someone else came to help. I called for an ambulance. When I went out, I could already hear the sirens in the background. The fire engine drove into the driveway and the ladder started extending. The firemen went up the ladder and rescued Mr. Elder.

I refrained from mentioning to Rachel that the Pearl Harbor attack let the US to join World War II. I feared that it would lead a series of more questions on the war. But I couldn’t escape from her line of questioning. As she listened to the facts wide-eyed, her very next question was "why did Japan attack?"

Now, I am not a historian or a political science scholar so I don’t have a detailed knowledge about the situation back then. So, I tried to put up a reason "well, you see there were some political tensions between the countries and that led them to go to war. All countries were fighting. It was the time of World War II"

Ooops! I mentioned about the WW II. I was holding my breath and watching what she would say next. Thankfully, she didn't get into the topic. Instead, she posed a more philosophical and to be precise a more difficult question! "Why does everyone fight? Why can't they be buddies?" I looked at her innocent face. She is too young to understand the complexities of the world of the grown ups and I don't want to ruin her innocence. "You see, there are problems…" I replied.

Her rose beds are their favorite playground. Of course, I can't blame him. I did the same pranks in my childhood. But you know what? Mrs. Bradley loves Kong! And it was proved last year on Winter Flowers Day.

Mike, Mrs. Bradley's son, came from London for a vacation and we were invited for tea at her house. By 'we' I mean Kong and myself. After we reached, there we came to know that it was Mike's birthday!

"Hey Bobby, I didn't want any birthday present or party! I just wanted to meet you all" said Mike, patting on my shoulder. I was too embarrassed for not having any gift for him. We had a good evening. There were ginger bread cookies, and a homemade cake with coffee and special treats for Kong too. As we were busy chatting, I didn't realize that Kong slipped away from the room into the garden.

Suddenly, Mrs. Bradley gave a shriek. "Has Kong gone into my garden? Where is he?" We looked around and there was no sign of my four-legged companion. I rushed to the garden followed by Mrs. Bradley and others. Just as I thought, Kong had marched over the rose beds and made a mess around the nursery of the winter flowers!

"Kong!" I screamed. Though most of the time I saved Kong after his mischief, it was too much for me to bear on that day. The brat just ruined my prestige! SIGH!!

Kong, without even glancing at me, took some flowers in his mouth and went to Mike. Kong, silently put the flowers near his feet and started wagging his tail innocently. I was just about to unleash my anger on him, when Mrs. Bradley interrupted, "Don't scold Kong. He just wanted to give Mike some presents. He understood it's his birthday." She solemnly looked at Kong and if I am not wrong, her eyes were moist. Kong barked softly as if to say, "Yes". Mike looked at his mom and then stared at the dog that was still wagging his tail and looking at Mike humbly. A smile came on his face.

"What you got there, Donna? Banana bread?" I asked.

"No Bob, I’m trying out a new recipe for zucchini bread," she answered. I stepped back. I’m not a big fan of zucchini - vegetables usually don’t take up much room on my plate. I couldn’t imagine what a zucchini would taste like in a sweet bread. She took a step forward. I stepped back again, with my hands up.

"No thanks, Donna. I had a big breakfast," I said. Just then my stomach started rumbling nosily, betraying me. Donna laughed.

"Trust me, Bob. You’ll like it," she said as she set the serving plate down on the counter. She took a napkin, placed a slice on it and offered it to me. I ran from the room. Ducking, I stealthily crept into my cubicle and went straight to work. All day, every time I moved from my computer, I found a neatly wrapped slice waiting for me when I returned. Once on my seat, once on my keyboard, and once balanced on my coffee cup. I had been able to return it to the coffee room each time.

As 5:00 PM came close, I felt assured to have escaped the dreaded zucchini bread. I packed up my stuff and just as the clock chimed five, I stood up to go. Donna was standing there, blocking my way.

"Bob, you’re not leaving until you try my zucchini bread," she said. The rest of the ladies on staff were crowded around her. My way was blocked! I had no way to escape! I took the little paper plate with the slice of bread. I racked my brain trying to find a way to keep from having to put this evil looking greenish colored bread into my mouth, but my mind was blank. All eyes stared at me. I slowly unwrapped the plate, eyes darting from right to left looking for anything to help me out of this. Everyone was watching. I was going to have to do it!

I tore a small piece from the edge and gingerly placed it in my mouth. It was moist. It was sweet. It didn’t taste like a vegetable. It was very, very good! Folks, I will never look at the lowly zucchini as a mere vegetable again. Zucchini bread has now become my favorite!

It was a beautiful, late autumn day. The air was bright and crisp and the trees were bare of leaves. After the hike to his house, we noticed no one was around. We approached the house carefully. There was a twist of rope around the doorknob.

"Probably his idea of a key," said Steve. I opened the door. The shack was no bigger than my bedroom at home, but it was a real mess. I had this idea to clean it up. Everyone thought I was crazy. I found a broom behind the door, and started to sweep. Steve started picking up the dishes on the table, and then we realized that there wasn’t a sink.

"Where’s the sink?" We looked around. Mr. Grady had no plumbing.

"I wonder how he stays warm," I said. My friends and I started feeling sorry for Mr. Grady. We took his dishes outside and found a well. The water was cold, but we managed to clean everything with a rag we found in the house. We made his bed and got everything as sparkling as we could. As we were finishing up, my friend Paula piped up. "I want to get some asters from Mrs. Lennon’s house, I’ll go ask her if it’s okay." She ran off to see what she could do. Meantime, Steve had been outside shaking the dirt out of the rag rug that had been on the floor. He came back in with it in pieces.

"It just fell apart. I’m gonna go home and ask Mom if he can have one of the rugs in our basement." I continued dusting the furniture and started scrubbing the warped and creaky wooden floor. I didn’t hear the cart come up, but I did hear the heavy footsteps coming up to the door. My heart skipped a beat. There was nowhere to hide! Mr. Grady hesitated at the door, probably noticing the missing rope. I stood in the corner, holding my breath and nearly sobbing looking at my feet.

Mr. Grady saw me and yelled at me, "What are you doing in my house!"

I started to cry. He looked around and saw the results of what my friends and I did. He took a couple of steps and sat on his bed with his hands on his knees. Then he whistled. I looked up at him through my tears. He was smiling. Just then, Paula showed up with a vase full of flowers, tentatively knocking at the door. Mr. Grady opened the door. With a gasp of surprise, she handed them to him. He smiled even broader.

"You chillun do this for me?" he said.

"Yes, sir," I said. I thought he was going to call our parents. Just then, Steve showed up with a rug. He looked just as surprised as Paula had been. He threw the rug at him and ran.

"We broke your rug trying to clean it," I explained. He smiled at me. I smiled back. "Oh, that’s alright… it was a rusty ole thang anyways," replied Mr. Grady with moist eyes.

When Steve opened the door it seemed as if he had returned from battle. His hair was ruffled, his t-shirt had coffee stains and his pale looks told me that he hadn't eaten much or slept in a couple of days.

“Steve!” I exclaimed, “Are you alright! What happened?”

Steve, letting me in, dropped himself on the couch and kept staring at the floor solemnly. Now Steve was never known for keeping his room neat but yesterday, it seemed as if a bomb had gone off or the mob had come in and searched the place like in the movies! CDs were on the floor, books were spread everywhere, and there were a bunch of tools like screwdrivers, pliers etc. all over the coffee table and couch.

As I tried to grasp the reason behind it, Steve had a big "SIGH" and declared after few minutes - “I am ruined!”

I blinked and stared at him without a word. A minute of awkward silence followed. Then he slowly turned towards me and said in a choking voice, “I have been robbed - my research papers, my programs, my photographs, music, games... everything! All my work is gone!!” And he started sobbing.

There was a pin drop silence in the room. I saw his laptop and everything was clear to me. The back cover of the laptop was open and the cords were coming out.

“Has the hard disk crashed?” I asked. Steve nodded in affirmation. Steve's laptop is his life, his love, his everything. He just cannot do without it. Most importantly, he kept all the information about the aliens and other supernatural phenomena that he had been researching.

“You must have back ups on CD?” I asked slowly.

“Not of everything. I haven't kept the latest photographs and music in the CDs. Above all, I don't have any copy of the research work on aliens. And you know, I was making programs for video games on a freelance basis. I lost them too! I tried everything, but I can't retrieve it,” said Steve hysterically.

Now, Steve is in big trouble this time. He should've kept the back ups of every important document in the CDs or in a pen drive.

I tried to console him, “Hey buddy, this is not the end of the world! I'll give you the music and photos. And you can start your work on aliens and video games afresh. You've just started the research! By the way, how did it happen?”

Steve's face got red in anger. “Those forums I go to. I clicked on an ad I just could not resist. I thought it would be a great program to check out about aliens. But instead I downloaded a malicious virus that attacked my whole system and nothing could be done! Ohh!” he said hoarsely and he almost started crying. Now he has to do his work all over again.

“You know Bob, my cousin is working in a non-profit organization that is helping HIV positive people and AIDS patients all over the world! They're spreading awareness about the disease. December first is World AIDS Day and they are doing a campaign to get people like you and me to help. The organization also has branches in other countries where they help get medication and clinics. You know, AIDS patients are outcasts in their societies in a lot of other places. So, can you please...”

Before she even finished, I'd already taken out 100 bucks from my wallet. My buddies might criticize me for being stingy when we go out, but when it comes to a good cause I'm always there to help them. Donna probably thought that she can't even get twenty dollars out of me. She stared at me with disbelief. "Well, I don't have much." I said sheepishly.

"Is there going to be something special?" I asked hopefully. She paused for a moment and replied, "Time will tell."

Well guys, I waited eagerly for the night. WINK! I didn't know what it was. I looked at my PDA and see if it was our anniversary or her birthday... Needless to say, I was nervous. What if I was supposed to show up with a gift???

At night, we had a candle lit dinner. Aaliyah cooked all by herself. And I must say, the food was DELICIOUS! I asked her, "So, where's the surprise?" "Here it is," she replied presenting a gift that's nicely wrapped. I couldn't wait to see what she had bought me. I opened it up instantly! And well, what do you know! It wasn't a gift that couldn't be bought! It was a photo collage of us through all these times that we've been together.

You bet, I was surprised!!! It must've taken her ages to put it together. She said, "I thought I should give you something I made for a change." It was in a trendy dark wood frame. It depicted pictures of when we started going out up to the present day. All the Thanksgivings, Christmases, New Years. I can see all the changes in the seasons - springs, summers, falls and winters... I was really touched. I was also surprised at the stages that we've crossed together. I was breathless and out of words. Just then, with a big smile on her face Ali said, "Well, do you like it?"

"Yes, of course Aaliyah. It's the best gift you ever gave me. I'm so lucky to have you." Then we hugged, and I gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"You see Bob," Megan told me a week ago, "the way to a man's heart is his stomach." We were sitting in my cubicle and I was tasting gefilte fish... Megan's first attempt at making Jewish cuisine. After having the tasteless food item (I think she forgot an ingredient or two!) I had doubts whether she would be successful in her mission at all with her abilities. But of course, I didn't want to disappoint her.

"Well, with a little practice, you can improve," I said. What a big mistake!!! From then on, she started chasing me with her meat balls, fish dishes, and all sorts of cakes! I don't even know how to give a review without hurting her feelings! Now, I am a BIG foodie, but I love good food and certainly don't want to get sick!!! I am seriously worried about the future of her relationship if she is going to serve the same quality of food that she is giving me now. God save her!

And the only other person who can save her is Kelly, our cooking expert pal. I think I need to talk to Kelly to help Megan avoid any disaster on Hanukkah.