In 90 minutes Christmas Adam will be over and it will be Christmas Eve.  (I told some butchers at the meat market the joke about Christmas Adam and they groaned but I know they went home and shared it).

Usually, on Christmas Eve I have very little left to do because I am generally organized that way.  Not this year.  I was making cookies tonight but had what Kate calls an Epic Fail on the butter horns (Pk's favorite) so I will be making them tomorrow along with three other batches of cookies, the babka and a chocolate torte.

It's a good thing I like to bake.  Let me show you what we have been doing instead of baking cookies.

We have insulation!  And plastic!  And furniture in our living space with some holiday decorations. 

This is what it looks like when you walk in the front door now.  If you look at the wall, you can see how the ceiling used to slope but is now a consistent 9 feet high all the way through to the back.

Pk started to connect the electircity to this part of the house as soon as the inspector left on the 19th.  It took a long time because all DIY projects seem to. He has been steadily working on it and had it all finished by tonight.

I have light over the kitchen sink!  (and a ton of ingredients just waiting to be made into cookies)

And since we really have no budget for all of this rennovation (since it was supposed to be just the roof), Pk used the old counter to build me a "floating island".  It's coming in handy.  We'll get walls up shortly but the fixtures in the kitchen will have to be obtained slowly. 

  I washed all the china and glassware and replaced it in the china closet today.  I finally got the living space ready for Christmas. 

It turned out that three of the outlets don't have power so we'll make do without them until after the holiday.  I want Pk to have some time to do Christmasy things for a while.  Like put the wreath on the front of the house or help me bake cookies or just sit down and put his feet up for a few hours.

I have all day tomorrow to spend in the kitchen.  And I probably will.  Good thing I got the presents wrapped today as well.

It's not beautiful yet, but it's snug and warm and soon will be filled with my family.  Em and Jim and Kate and Patrick and Elanor and Pk and I will decorate the tree and eat snacky foods and drink wine punch and homemade eggnogg.  We'll read from the Christmas book and make jokes about how this year is The Best Ever, just like every year. 

And it will be. 

In case this is the last chance I have for a few days, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas, and to wish everyone a Peaceful Solstice.  I hope the end of 2012 finds you happy and healthy and surrounded by people who love you.  Because in the end, that's all we've really got that matters.