Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and best wishes for whatever year-end festival you celebrate.

I'm going to be sappy and post my favorite Christmas poem, by William Henry "Adirondack" Murray:

Ah, friends, dear friends, as years go on and heads get gray,
how fast the guests do go! Touch hands,
touch hands, with those that stay.
Strong hands to weak, old hands to young,
around the Christmas board, touch hands.
The false forget, the foe forgive, for every guest will go
and every fire burn low and cabin empty stand.

Forget, forgive, for who may say that Christmas day
May ever come to host or guest again. Touch hands!

Fay, if you like dear Kate at all, you must go get it at once. It's quite something wonderful.

Ginger, that is lovely. Damn, I'm getting old.

It's a bit of a most welcome lull. It would be nice to take a nap since I only got maybe 3 hours last night. But if I do that it would be disturbed by the arrival of BIL and family and I would think unkindly of them.

I made 3 lasagnas. Yum. One very meaty, one no meat spinach, one alfredo sause chicken and spinach.

And it is a good thing I didn't lay down because guess who just arrived.

later....

Thanks for the tacklehugs, folks. My family here are doing OK for the most part: it's been a very up-and-down year.

May all the news today be good, for all of us.

Karl! Adds a smooch to the tacklehug.

My Christmas wish came true. BIL's EVIL wife had to work and he arrived with his son but no wife. Yay! Sorry, but her being here never ends well. She would end up fighting with DH and I would be miserable. Yay!

Karl, your wish for us is apparently working so far. How would you feel about wishing for a five-pound box of hundred dollar bills for me? Also, hi, hello, good to see you again.

Yay, Laura, you deserve a lovely stress-free, Evil SiL-free day!

Karl! Good to see you!

Lovely to hear about everyone's festivities.

I couldn't find anywhere to buy potatoes, not even canned, so there will be no latkes tonight. I'm such a grasshopper. I need to get in touch with my inner ant and unpack some more, haven't found teh wireless router yet.

And Laura, if she's evil, I'm glad she isn't there.

We've been dragged out of bed, opened gifts. My sister and my niece have yelled at each other. The word "Bitch" has been used by each of them at least a dozen times. My niece's father has come and picked her up. My Dad has yelled about someone losing the phone. My sister is now blustering around in the kitchen complaining about how she has to do everything. I won't go near the kitchen anymore. I cooked Xmas dinner the year Mom had her first hip replacement and all my sister did was complain about how everything was done wrong. As such, I won't go near there.

Now they are complaining about one of my niece's cousins (From her Dad's side). She's been referred to as a bitch and that no one can stand her, and a few other choice words.

Ah, the sounds of Christmas.

Oh, I got a book, a CD, a DVD, and a check.