Hi everyone. So far for Christmas I've received a department store gift voucher. And I've been fighting a cold for the last week, and driving from Melbourne to Canberra on Christmas Eve did not help. So here I am now surrounded by siblings in the home of the Patriarch (not that he ever sleeps here anymore). I love it.

Merry Christmas!

It's been a truly lovely holiday weekend, stuffed with friends, food, frolic and more food. Did I mention the food? Wonderful stuff!

The devil's food cake I made for tonight's supper was super easy and seriously of the delish. In my food coma, I'm thinking someone linked the recipe here. At any rate, it was amazing.

My host gave the kids a grab bag full of actual insect snacks. Not snacks for insects, but snacks OF insects. Someone tried to get me to eat bbq larvae. There was a lot of "no, really, they're yummy." Until one of them confessed that the 'aftertaste is like ass.' Heh.

A friend gave Bartleby a stuffed duck, which he is gleefully disemboweling as we speak.

My greatest gift? I literally slept the day away. I went to bed at about midnight and when I woke up (no ups in the night, which is rare), I thought the power must have been off half the night because my clock was wrong. WAAAAAY wrong. But no, the fact is, I slept until 1:30PM. I suspect alien abduction.

Now that was a great gift.

Here is hoping that each of you is enjoying the season and that non-appreciative, cranky and/or difficult giftees have delightful changes of heart.

I had a wonderful Christmas. Possibly my best Christmas ever. I've been spoilled by gifts, had good food, my family was more than tolerable, and I spent some of it with the bestest of boyfriends. I'll post more details soon, but, for now, more snuggling.

Much ~ma to everyone who is struggling this holiday.

Pictures from today...my aunt and uncle are amazingly creative, talented and quirky. Artist+architect=really cool house.

Pictures of their house and of the "golf course" they've created around the property are here.

Rrrrrrockin'! I love the trowel door handles.

Thanks! And I swear I only captured a fraction of the coolness that is their place.

Absolutely charming house, Kristin.

Karl, here's another bit of your wish to us come true: I heard from my mother, who is living in a quite decent "senior" trailer park, in a quite decent mobile home. This was very good news after spending the day worrying about her being inadequately protected from winter weather, as my sister had told me mom was living in a camper. Naturally, Mom had not bothered to inform either of us of her real whereabouts after her house had been foreclosed on.

Go Hec with the good deed doing!

It made me very cheery. It was more fun helping a brit for some reason. Extra charming in her super polite thankfulness.

We're back from JZ's Aunt Judy's house, where JZ's mom was too sick to attend (102 fever). Also, too rainy to go visit Aunt Judy's horse. Emmett reached some now positive plateau of socialization as he was well behaved in a relaxed, but not particularly kid focused event. In fact, he was the only kid. But JZ's brother Chris was there, and Emmett likes him. And Emmett built a Parthenon with Jenga blocks and played with his new Teen Titan toys and we played cards afterwards. Social obligation fulfilled without trauma! Check.

Tomorrow we finish the gauntlet with the very pleasant prospect of brunch with the good friends/godparents. That will be fun for all.

Kristin's Aunt and Uncle's house looks very fun and playful and beautiful. I need more gates, I think. Or places to put them.

I need more color in my house. And actually - I really love how calm the guest room felt.

BTW, homemade brownies with homemade eggnog icecream - the best dessert evha.