Here I am in my Who hat on Dec. 23rd right after work. Pk and I had to work a full day despite our attempts to get away early. We stopped at the grocery store to get some extra eggs and butter and then came home. We took a brief nap because he had a sinus headache and wouldn't lay down if I didn't lay down with him. It was nice to know that we had time and didn't have to hurry around.

There was dinner and then cookies. These are the blank canvases we started with. There was much laughter and creativity. We had a priest cookie

and a snowwoman in a bikini and a bunny that was hit by a falling star and was bleeding. Somehow I missed getting a photo of that one. The frosting we used this year was a little runny and we had a hard time getting definition. It was fun.

On the 24th, Pk worked from home for a few hours. Since he does all of his work on a computer, as long as he has internet access, he can work from home. Lucky for him. I spent the day baking 2 babkas, one mincemeat pie and one torte. I make this every year. It is mostly chocolate with only 2 tablespoons of flour. The rest is eggs and ground almonds. It is dense and fudgy and my family loves it. Me, not so much. I will have a small sliver and then I'm good until next year. We ate pizza and wings (our traditional Christmas Eve dinner) and then worked on the tree. Of course it's beautiful, full of the ornaments collected over 27 years of Christmases. We sat around and basked in its glow for a while just being aware of how lucky we are and how precious this time is.

Pk and I went to bed and Jim and Em wrapped presents and then crashed on the sofa bed in the living room. Emily was up early (7 am) and running around saying "wake up, wake up, wake up!!! It's Christmas!!". Yes, she is 22 years old but she has been doing this for years. We are usually already awake but her sisters are usually not. If it weren't Christmas, they'd probably clobber her.

The next few hours were filled with babka (a polish bread traditionally made with raisins but I used dried cherries, Pk's mom's recipe) and hot chocolate and presents. I think everyone was happy. Em got a spinning wheel from Jim and we spent considerable time trying to put it together. It came in this box from the Netherlands. Jim left it here last week and said he didn't want to wrap it becase he liked the box. "It says 'breekbaar' all over it". So we left it alone. Em was thrilled and we managed to get it together and I gave her a brief tutorial on getting started so she could play when she got home. Kate gave her the Amos Alden Book of Handspinning so she should be good.

I got a set of Denise interchangeable circular needles which I will try out sometime soon and some lovely sock yarn. One of the best presents came at the end of the day when my cousin came for dinner. My aunt has the stomach flu and had to stay home but we'll probably see her on Sunday. If you are old enough to remember the 70's, you've seen these. It's a ceramic tree with lights. It's hollow and sits on a base with a light bulb that makes the plastic lights glow. This one has a base that is a music box. There was a time when my aunt took ceramic classes and made everyone one of these. This one was hers. It was her pride and joy and she kept it wrapped up in a closet for the past several years because she was afraid the cats would knock it over (her daughters have over 20 cats between them). She decided to give it to me. I am touched beyond description. I know how much this means to her and she wants me to have it. It is in a place of prominence (on the sideboard) where everyone can see it. It will be one of my favorite things to bring out at Christmas every year.

We had a delicious dinner and sat around and talked and laughed and generally had a good time.

Today will be a quiet day. Pk is going to play with the computer and I am going to sit in the glow of the Christmas tree and spin and knit and probably nap. Maybe there will be some preparing of food but nothing else. It was a lovely day yesterday. And we have the weekend before we have to go back to work.

I hope you are all feeling content and full of quiet joy and wonder.