WHEW.

So I'd planned to celebrate surviving the just-completed week from hell with a long morning snooze on Saturday, but I was mysteriously up and at 'em by 7:00. And since I'd already written off the day as a work day, I decided to get to work putting up my tree instead. It's a modest little four-footer, and it's now loaded with lights and sitting in front of the window just glowing the holy fuck out of Christmas.

Matt had volunteered to be a lingerie model for our saucy "Walkin' 'Round in Women's Underwear" number for this weekend's chorus concert, and I'd told him I'd help him pick out something fun on Saturday afternoon at the local Boystown drag emporium. Now normally you're among friends when you prance around in lacy things or totter around in heels at this place, but there was some Boystown holiday street fair going on Saturday, and the store was crawling with funky Lincoln Park chicks and their visibly uncomfortable boyfriends. Curious stares notwithstanding, Matt left with a lovely lavender bustier/panty/fishnet set -- and I managed to snag a plum evening gown, black velvet wrap and beaded clutch from the clearance rack ... in case I get invited to an all-drag Nobel Prize reception or something. (You never know.)

Later that night I had my choice of parties to attend: a surprise birthday dinner thrown by my friend Bill, a tree-trimming get-together at a co-worker's new place or the annual Girls' Weekend in Chicago dinner I've attended since I moved here. Since the girls' weekend involved some dear family friends, I opted to join them again. The girls are Gingie (a friend of my parents' whom I've known practically all my life), her sister Janie from Nashville, and Janie's two Nashville friends Nancy and Bunny. The five of us ate at the trendy d.kelly in the west Loop and then headed over to join their Chicago friend Fern in the elegant Drake Hotel for drinks in its holiday-festooned lobby.

Who knew I'd keep having fun with them year after year -- just me and five Women of a Certain Age? Next year they're all coming a day earlier so I can take them to Boystown for some drag shopping and trendy Boystown dining.

Now it's Sunday morning, and I'm nursing a bad headache and preparing for today's 8-hour chorus rehearsal.