Mmmmm....I had a lovely Hannukah brunch with my parents and younger sibs this morning (latkes, bagels, bialys, challah knots, whitefish salad, cream cheese, lox), then went to the gym and then took the most wonderful bath with a Butterball and a Blackberry bath bomb. It was uber-luxurious and I am now all soft and scented. And warm and dry.

This could only be a better day if the !@#*%!#$% post office had delivered the package I'm waiting for like they said they would. (Honestly, it's be so much better if they just said, "Yep, the holidays are a really busy time, so we're not going to be able to get this out," and I'd go pick it up. It's a 5-minute bus ride. Being assured that it's on a truck and out for delivery when it's clearly not being delivered is just rude.)

I just got back from my mother's because she bought me a skirt that she wanted me to wear tonight. It's a very pretty velvet peasant skirt with a line of beads at each tier seam. I'm letting go of the idea of baking anymore brownies or making oreos tonight. If the red and green chocolate does not get used it won't be the end of the world. I might do some more baking after the festivities tonight with Dave's help. For now, I'm just going to change into my Christmasy outfit and wait for him to get back from work.

Hec, I have been gradually downloading songs from Buffistarawk, although I've not downloaded all the JazzyFay ones yet. (Got seduced by some of your Halloween and Christmas things too, y'see...) They're all fabulous, and the Jazzy stuff is fabulous.

Yeah, we got suspended for 24 hours because we were all downloading the xmas tunes. We hope that once we get away from the seasonal downloads we can get back to our usual nefarious practices. But I'm glad you're getting music - it's tricky to send stuff to Egypt.

Emmett and I are back from Yum. He got his annual Jolt Cola and a two whole six packs of hand selected boutique sodas (Root beers by Sprechters, Hanks and Virgil, cream sodas, blue sodas, black cherry sodas, Bubble Up). I got a sixer of the Dublin (TX) Dr. Pepper (orig. recipe, w/ cane sugar) to take over for boxing day, as well as some weirdass undoubtedly non-sweet British sodas for Emmett's anglophiliac Godfather. (He does make a great, and authentic Yorkshire pudding.)

We've managed to cram nine plates onto our dinner table. JZ is taking a tiny nap. Emmett and I are about to make a bike excursion. The stockings are stuffed to capacity. I've got about half my wrapping done. Emmett got a cool present for JZ.

We're ready for Christmas!

For now, I'm just going to change into my Christmasy outfit and wait for him to get back from work.

Good plan! I decree that now is a good time for everybody to take a breather.

::raises glass of xmas cheer::

Non-sweet British soda? What the heck is that about?

Though if anyone has tried "Grown Up Soda", it's very yummy--they have Meyer Lemon, and Cranberry Lime, which I like a lot (and others, which I haven't tried)

We got a tiny, pre-cooked ham for the three of us, tomorrow. It'll be easy-peasy, I hope. I'm also doing DH's favorite cabbage dish (if his mother's recipe will work for me!).

Right now it's pre-cut Toll House Christmas cookies in the oven and I'm getting busy wrapping the boy's gifts. Oh, and EGG NOG!

I wish all the Buffistas joy and peace.

Merry (almost) Christmas to all!

I'm on dial-up at home. I'm sure I don't have to explain the awfulness of that to anyone here.

I've all my presents bought, all the food that can be prepared in advance is prepared, the bathrooms have even been cleaned. So now it's time for me to curl up on the sofa with some mulled wine and do the holiday super-sudoku that's been calling me all day. Here's hoping everyone's Christmas is as stress-free.

My shopping is done. 2 Scarves aren't. I had to go home and stop freaking out about presents becuase I was about to go into a spending frenzy of "omigod! I didn't spend the same amount on everyone and my presents are lame and small and my family will hate me!" Which they won't, I just do this to myself every year.

Mom came over and helped me clean house so it will be nice when brother and his new gf are here. I have a present for her, spent a bit more than I planned on but it's a nice gift. It was hard to shop for her because, well, he says they are getting serious, but then again this time last year he had just proposed to his ex Fiance.

Now I have to go over to Mom's and get some wrapping. THere was a family Open House to go to , but Dad never called me back with details. I'm a bit worried about him and I'm thinking about running over to his house and making sure he's okay and make sure he hasn't had another heart attack or something.

Tomorrow Dad and I are going over to Mom's for breakfast and token present opening. Then later lunch with the extended family. Monday my brother and GF should be here, sometime in the evening. so we'll go over to Dad's and have Xmas there (his place is decorated). Which means I actually do have one more day of shopping available. If needed. Which it won't be.

Yeah, I didn't get paid by any of my clients, so I'm broke at the moment and the family is getting both jack and shit from me under the tree. I'll be mailing them presents sometime in January. Pretty much all of the accounting departments just decided to take December off, you know, since everyone is on vacation anyway. Must be nice to get a paycheck every week and not actually have to depend on clients to pay their contracts.

Fuck this holiday.

Phew. All done with grocery shopping. Bought some pretty flowers for the table. Started picking up the living room. Started the dishwasher so I have clean stuff to bake with after dinner tonight. Next up, going out to dinner with the family that's local: daughter, dad, brother and nephew. It's very nice having my nephew local to us now, it makes for larger holiday gatherings again. The more the merrier!