Merry Christmas from the Big D Re-Gals of Dallas, Texas, and best wishes for a happy 2009.

The Re-Gals had the most wonderful time on October 25, at a Halloween lunch at Babe's Chicken Dinner House in Garland, Texas. My ladies were all dressed up for the holiday and looked fantastic! We pigged out on home cookin' and kazooed our October birthday girls - Jana and me. There are more pictures at www.picturetrail.com/re-gals - enjoy!

This month the Big D Re-Gals had lunch at Creperie du Chateau in uptown Dallas (which means it's just north of downtown - LOL). As you can guess, the specialty of the house is crepes, all kinds of crepes -- breakfast crepes, dinner crepes, dessert crepes. They are made with whole wheat so are very filling, and they were delicious. We all got free mimosas to start, and, unfortunately, we were too full of lunch to have any dessert :o(. We had a wonderful little waitress who anticipated our every need. The restaurant was very small, but they didn't seem to have any problem with our silliness.

Our Queens for the Day were fantastic. They had a nice door prize for everyone who attended -- fifteen members and two guests.

I was concerned about getting to the restaurant because I don't know downtown Dallas, but the directions were right on, and my GPS made us more comfortable.

We'll be talking about this one for a long time.

Last month when DH and I were visiting relatives in Kentucky and Ohio, I found this wonderful mink stole and hat. The stole was in an antique mall in Lebanon, Ohio, and I was able to get it for 20% off the asking price. I found the hat for $8 at an antique mall in Florence, Kentucky. I hope to attend something fancy next winter so I can wear them.

(Please forgive the red dress. That's what I wore to church this morning, and I just asked DH to take a picture while I was still dressed up.)

This month, the Big D Re-Gals had lunch at a cool restaurant called The Magic Time Machine. The building was formerly a school. It's old and has the somewhat musty ambience of an old building. It's divided up into many different seating areas, some seating 2-4 people and some holding groups. We were seated in a Mexican cantina, but they have a carousel, and jack o'lantern, a Valentine, a box of Crayolas. You get the picture. The salad bar is in an old MG sports car. All the waiters and waitresses are dressed as characters. Our waitress was Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and at the next table was Capt. Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.

The food was delicious and came in big portions. None of our ladies were celebrating birthdays so we celebrated with Spycee, whose birthday was last month, and with Lady Sharon, who has one next month. They were each given balloons to tie onto their hats and lighted candles to hold while Belle, Capt. Jack and Bat Girl sang to them.

We ended the visit by having our group picture taken in the school bus. It was a fun afternoon.