I have braved two different grocery stores. Now, I need to clean but I have a headache and really just want to take a nap.

Ugh, I am all tired now. Cleaning, shopping, toddler wrangling. But Emmett and I accompanied EM to the stores and got about $300 worth of champagne, pate and fancy cheese. The pate is sooooooo good.

Now Matilda is off with Emmett and EM to do one last errand. We've invited our downstairs neighbor to dinner - that makes 8! Yikes. That's a crowd in our apartment. Oh well, it'll be nice.

JZ, Matilda and JZ's mom will go to the children's service at the local church at 5:30 and then come back for a big pot of clams, mussels and lobster. (Emmett will have steak.)

It's way too early to go to bed and yet that is all I want to do. I should really eat instead since I didn't have lunch.

Here's what I have learned from cleaning little areas in various rooms all day. TOO MUCH STUFF!

Mmmmmm...pate and fancy cheese....

I've wrangled kids and DH took a nap so he can survive the late night wrapping. We're having swiss steak and gravy for dinner and then the kids and I will decorate cookies for Santa.

Movie line up: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Olive the Other Reindeer, Shrek the Halls. After the kids go to bed, it will be Elf and Love, Actually.

TOO MUCH STUFF!

Speaking of which, my sister sent me two more big boxes of presents which just arrived. That's four boxes just from her. She about doubled the already abundant display under the tree. And Santa hasn't even made his deliveries yet either.

We shan't lack for stuff.

Pies are in for their final bake. The crust is already too dark, I can tell. And at our elevation it always takes forever for the custard to set. So, dubious. I have plenty of pumpkin, though, so if it fails entirely I can retry.

The Zmayhem sounds lovely, if hectic.

I definitely agree with the too much stuff assessment. The SO is cheerily clearing out his studio, though, and progress is being made. I am zonkered, though, and haven't even tackled the big cooking day yet!

Anyway, if I can completely clean the kitchen this evening to start fresh tomorrow, I think I'll be good. I think I can manage that, although we do have Christmas eve candlelight service to go to tonight. We have to read a thinger for the advent candle lighting, which is confusing to me because I swear it's the one they read last Sunday. But whatevs.

I am still at work, but I got a call to let me know that the family has arrived. So far the five dogs and two cats are all getting along, which bodes well for the next two nights. I get out of here in an hour, stop at the grocery to get the Official Fogelson Beverage (Diet Dr. Pepper), and then let the holidays begin!

The Zmayhem sounds lovely, if hectic.

Well, EM did a nice save by buying and cooking the dinner and splurging on the champagne (and whiskey). Poor thing, she's got three degenerating disks in her neck and in a lot of pain. She's counting the minutes until she can take a Vicodin. She's scheduled for a cortisone shot next Tuesday and is trying to avoid surgery. Though I have repeatedly told her that Teppy and ex-Minion and my Dad all had the back surgery and it was a huge help.

At the moment I have the house to myself, which is itself a bit of a relief. I think JZ scrambled off to the fabric store. She's sewn Emmett a Skooble (aka, Gooble) figure from Yo Gabba Gabba. (He's a very minor character that doesn't have his own figure, but Emmett loves him because Skooble's goofy and pathetic. He's sort of a ghost who can't stop crying.)

So far the five dogs and two cats are all getting along, which bodes well for the next two nights.

Right on not-so-Scrappy animals!

Huh. Black Oak Books reopened. That's great news. Berkeley's suffered a rash of major bookstore closings including Cody's and Black Oak, so that only Moe's was left of the big indie stores.

But Black Oak's owner calculated that the only a bookstore could survive was by owning its own building. So he let his lease go that was costing him $18K/month and has moved to a gentrifying part of West Berkeley and is now only playing a $5K/month mortgage.

I am sorry that so many here are having a rough Christmas. ::hugs all around:: It can be a hard season.

Our house has been very ACTIVE today, what with the four kids running around, some of them fairly overcome with Christmas crazies. We rolled out sugar cookies and baked brownies, that's all been good. And now I am getting a bit of sit down time, in the middle of the day no less! Yay! A brief buffista break to refresh me.