Aw, man, I'm so bummed about Eartha Kitt.

I got to my dad's late (just before 4:00), but I was still the first one of the kids to arrive. My stepbrother brought his four kids, including his 6-week-old daughter, who is just the cutest thing and soooo tiny! I held her for a while before my other stepbrother and his wife arrived, whereupon the baby was absconded with.

Her big brother, who is turning one on Saturday, was very entertaining while playing with his new toys and being freaked out by the mooing squishy bowling bowl with the cow's face on it. (He liked the mooing part, just not the cow's face.)

I've got some checks to deposit and a computer to buy this weekend!! I finally get to recycle this POS desktop that runs on Windows ME.

My SIL and I made buckeyes. I share that for Kat's benefit. Watched WallE and KungFu Panda tonight. Dinner was quite good this afternoon, enough so that supper was snacking on veggies and cheeseball.

I'm still inordinately proud of the gift I constructed for my brother. He'd been bitching about the cost of ties and shirts as separates and how he found sets for much cheaper (like $20), so I carefully constructed a small paper shirt out of transformer wrapping paper and made a tie from two twenties. I even managed it so the faces on the bills landed centered on the tie part AND the knot. Still not sure how I managed that. But still, neat! And it was received with proper acclaim for its creativity.

My mom said her best moment was me bursting into tears.

OK, and it is so weird to be using my SIL's computer: it is my old one (with new parts.)

I just put one of the batches of cookies I am hoping to take to Megan Walker's tomorrow in the oven, and I am pretty sure they are going to turn out to be one of those "you did the butter wrong" batches. Luckily, I have time and ingredients to make brownies and other cookies tomorrow, plus wine tonight to ease the cookie mishap sting.

Buckeyes!! Since you shared, I'll share these: Fancy dress gracie: [link] and Noah got a drum: [link]

Is Gracie still in the hospital?

Emmett won't take his tuxedo off. He got the shirt and tie and cumerbund from FiL and he's been mister dapper ever since.

Also after our sad Thanksgiving feast (where we addressed the fact that he hates: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy and only likes the pie), FiL made prime rib for everybody (except JZ who made a vegetarian lasagna for herself, brother and Aunt) and it was delicious and super abundant. (I've got a huge chunk of roast beast in the fridge.)

Emmett declares it not only the best Christmas ever, but the best day ever. FiL even happened upon serving Emmett's favorite pie (lemon meringue) for dessert.

Matilda only got about 40 minutes of nap today instead of her usual 2+ hours. She started to melt down from that plus all the excitement and extra people wanting to interact with her. So she sniveled and cried for an hour then rallied and got happy and bouncy for no particular reason. A Christmas miracle! Sort of.

EM was with us, as was megan walker and both had very good times.

My little Hanukkah miracle was actually reading some posts, rather than skipping. I had such a good time, reading about everybody's Thursdays. Thank you so much for sharing (especially the pictures, but of course, not just them!).

Oh, and, according to the Buffista Calendar, the 26th of December is almost just as much of a holiday, since it's the birthday of not only Jesse H, but also of Theodosia (and even of Rayne, too - I have no idea when she last posted).

Happy birthday, Jesse! Happy birthday, Theo! With lots of wishes for a great day and a wonderful year!

Nilly! Hugs to you, my sweet.

And Happy Birthday to Jesse and Theo!

Happy birthday, Jesse!

Happy birthday, Theo!