Son Raymond arrived safely back in Phoenix and Christmas book gifts

I get a lot of good information from Facebook. He slept at a rest stop night before last where he said Baby's dog water dish froze solid! I bet that was cold sleeping in his truck but he says he loves the open road. I know he is out hustling for ways to make a living, survive, feed Baby and himself so will call when he has a moment. He called on the road.
I talked to my son Dan who has recovered from the fever that kept him home on Thanksgiving. My grandson Dante returned to California without me seeing him, but he is coming back soon for the Christmas Holidays. I asked Dan if he had done anything to get in trouble lately and he said he and his cousin Demetrius accidentally shot out his Aunt Stephanie's big front window with a B B gun. Boys will be boys, but they had to go to work for her to pay for it. His Aunt Stephanie and Uncle David have a big lot where they raise chickens, goats, etc. so I am sure there is always plenty of work to be done around there. Dante is 15 so should be to the age where such stuff is not likely to happen, but Dante said the BB ricocheted. Oh now I understand perfectly.
Dan's back is very touchy due to his years of playing basketball the doctor said, so he has had to cut back his hours on his job which requires heavy lifting. He seriously needs to go into some other kind of work, but jobs are not that plentiful so he continue to look and work at this one.
I asked my grandson Jamal, a college boy, if he had done anything to get in trouble lately. He said not really. I hope to see him too at Christmas. But I am very happy that I am going to be seeing my grandson Ethan tomorrow while my daughter Ronda and her husband Chad attend a company dinner. I won't have to wait until Xmas after the disappointment of not seeing him on Thanksgiving.
I am starting to pile up all the books I am going to give for Christmas. I always love picking out my book gifts. I can't really tell you the titles or they won't be a surprise. I will have to tell you afterward as I think I have an awesome list to give.
I can tell you that I have a real find to give Raymond by Franz Kafka called "I Am a Memory Come Alive." The book is as interesting as the title, and I am sure he will never feel the same about Kafka again, because here is the human Kafka, the letters, his loves, his worries, and fears. He had TB so knew he was probably going to die while still relatively young. I had a hard time developing much feeling for the author of the austere Penal Colony, Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Castle, etc, but this memoir won my heart. He told his friend to burn everything, but thank god he did not, for to me, this book is a rare treasure.

I am buying the bio of Jack London this year by James L. Haley for some lucky soul. I want every body in the family to have a chance to read it, so I will send it with instructions to send on. My family loves adventure so they are going to love this writer's life story! That is my son Dan's motto, "I Love Adventure".
My neice Cheryl's Xmas gift to me a few years ago is still making the rounds, called What is a What? about the lost boys of Sudan. You talk about heart breaking. This book makes you cry it is so sad, all those deaths of young boys trying to walk to safety but you cannot lay it down!
That is all I am going to tell you about my Christmas book gifts right now. I just wanted to let you know Raymond arrived, and now Christmas will be complete with the family altogether here for the first time in a long time. Raymond was in Austin last year, don't know where he was the year before. I love having Raymond around because he is an entertainer!