Well, I've ovulated, and have duly begun my course of Wild Yam Root. Tricky thing about this stuff; you can't take it before you ovulate, or it might keep you from ovulating at all. I also think I'll keep going with the Red Clover; I ovulated two days early (for me), even with the road travel and holiday stress, and my fertile signs were much more blatant than before. Plus, it really tastes great!

I hope everybody had a great holiday. Mine was more low-key than Richmond family holidays of the past. Of course, Christmas Eve was spent with Bryan and Linda in their gorgeous house, which made us feel completely inadequate, as usual. Was it wrong for me to take special pleasure in talking about how fun and stress-free my new job is, about how personally fulfilled it makes me feel? Eric played the slavishly devoted husband to try to keep me from becoming too depressed, and I think he felt better when he was able to trounce his brother three times in a row at chess. It's the little, petty things that keep us from withering into small, pathetic puddles of inadequacy.

Things took an interesting turn when Christmas presents were opened - yes, on Christmas Eve, those pagans. This year, instead of everybody grabbing and ripping open presents in a wild, willy-nilly chaos, we each took turns, letting everyone see what the others had received. Ergo, everybody was watching with interest when I opened Eric's gift to me: a lovely flannel robe, lovingly wrapped around...a book on the family bed. Co-sleeping. Yes, Eric and I are intending to co-sleep with our children, and it was a very thoughtful gift, but now everyone was staring, wondering first, what co-sleeping was, and second, why we were concerned with a family bed.

The question hung in the air: is she pregnant? My dear mother-in-law had already been dropping hints; she gave both of her daughters-in-law slinky negligees, I guess in the hopes that we would quickly seduce her sons and get ourselves "in a family way." She had been asking, "Do you think there will be a baby here with us by next year?" So now Eric had perfectly set us up.

But did that satisfy him? Oh, no. By the time we had been there two days, he had had enough of keeping secrets and giving vague answers. At the big Christmas dinner at his aunt's house, he announced to everybody that we were in the actual process of trying to produce the newest Richmond.

Eric: But I thought we told them last night!
Bryan: I don't remember that.
Rita (almost in tears): Me either!
Me (almost in shock): Me either...

So then he was backpedalling: "Oh, well, I meant we're getting ready to try. Soon, very soon." Of course, I'm pretty sure he fooled nobody. So now we have anxious once-a-month phone calls to look forward to. "Are you pregnant yet? Are you pregnant yet? Is there something wrong? Something wrong with Carrie?" And that's what I didn't want. That's why we were still giving everybody the story that we would start in March.

Oh, I hope we got pregnant this month; I can't deal with this!

Eric was happy with my gift to him: bunches of South Park and Monty Python videos. Unfortunately, after he saw his friend open a DVD player, he's now got his eye set on bigger and better things than our VCR. He says he might return the Monty Python videos, and we'll see about a DVD player and some movies for that.

It seems that the big winner this Christmas was George Foreman. I was witness to three different people opening Foreman grills this Christmas, and when I called my home, my brother had just opened a fourth. Wonder what kind of money he makes per grill? We're waiting to see how everyone enjoys theirs before we commit. We need another kitchen appliance like we need another hole in the ozone layer, but Eric's pretty interested. I won't stop him, naturally; if I did, he might resign as Chief Family Cook, and we just can't have that.

We're anxiously awaiting word about Eric's new job. The company has big protocol issues with the hiring of titled positions, and approval of Eric's promotion has to actually go through the CEO. Well, do you think the CEO works over Christmas? Har, har. Eric won't hear anything until after New Year's. I can hardly wait; if they offer enough of a salary boost, we can start looking at houses! Oh, to have a house of my own again!