Steve

Dear Sister,

We waited Thanksgiving Dinner ‘til about 4 0’clock thinkin you were comin. The girls had their noses pressed against the winda, wonderin and watchin for you.

I might tell you that we have caller I.D. now. When you finally called at seven to tell us you weren’t gonna make it, we knew you were callin from some restaurant their in Houston called the Briar Patch, eatin dry cold turkey and what Momma used to call Institutional snot gravy. I could hear Dolly Parton playin in the background on the Jukebox so I know you was with our kind of people at least.

I don’t know if you didn’t want to see us or you got too tanked up to drive but those two little twins hearts was broke. They had so much to tell you and had planned to do some little songs and poems they had rehearsed for you. You got to remember they are still little kids and don’t know any better than to look up to you. You are everything to them that Lester and myself are not, and they don’t know yet that that’s not necessarily a good thing. Well I’m done preachin.

Say speaking of preachin, Harla and Darla and myself may get to be in the audience of the Jan and Paul Trinity broadcasting telethon that they are gonna do next week. I have always thought that she was so beautiful and feminine she makes Tammy Faye look like Ellen Degeneres, but we won’t even go into that. I’m glad the girls don’t think her shows funny. That way we don’t have to forbid them to watch it. Thank goodness they watch Bay Watch that is on opposite it and that just is more of the type program we want them to growing up watchin you know morally and all.

Well any way Jan is gonna have Lu Lu Roman on you know she gave up cocaine and bikers and found the Lord and now she sings and writes Christian music. And you know that it isn’t easy to write Christian music. I read where it’s harder than writin Country or even Classical, you know like for Ballets and T.V. commercials.

I have no idea what we are going to wear. Harla said she hopes she breaks her leg or goes blind before the broadcast so she can go down front and get healed. I told her I didn’t think Jan and Paul were so big on the healin part. They usually go for the people who have had real horrible lives and now they’ve given them to Jesus.

Dottie Rambeau is gonna be there. I don’t know exactly what’s wrong with her but she has to sit down to play the guitar. And most the time she lip synchs or just says some alleluia gibberish over and over while the tapes playin and Jan’s cryin and tryin to move her mouth to the tape too so it looks like somebody up there knows the song.

Their little daughter in law and the baby are gonna be here too. Lester says she used to be a topless dancer. I guess they all have somethin like that in their past. That’s what makes the show so good. I do wish they would quit spikin the baby’s hair lika punk rocker. That just never looks natural, I don’t think, Do you?

They were gonna shoot the whole thing at the County Fair Grounds but Jan and Paul said they didn’t have the outdoor television lights to handle it. Now it has to be inside that convention center Auditorium thing that they built between here and Waco which means we may have everybody too cheap to get a Motel tryin to stay with us.

When ever that’s come up before I just say that the girls have a real bad Virus infection and the Dr. Isn’ t sure yet if it even originated in this country and they don’t ask a second time they just get a Motel.

Please try to be good and try to let us know if you are comin for Christmas or not. I won’t even get the girls hopes up. If you show up you show up and then at least the’ll be surprised instead of disappointed. When you wad’nt there at 6 or so Harla looked up at me with tear filled eyes and said " You don’t think she’s in jail or in a Hospital do you?"

Oh well, come if you can. You know we love you Anyway!