I think we missed the Magical Christmas Caroling Truck this year which makes me sad.

Oh! We had one of those go through the neighborhood last weekend. H and I turned to each other, "Ice cream?"

Turns out one of the neighbors does it every year.

I've been behind in Natter for days. So much going on.

I'm so sorry about your cousin, ita.

Congrats to Glam and her DW and Nora and Kira on their new babies! And congrats to 'Ouise and Helena on their aunthood. (Special thanks to 'Ousie and Megan for looking after my cats while I'm away.)

So I am in day 6 of Xmas with the family. I think my tolerance is going to bust just in time for Xmas. Not that anything's going horribly wrong, but it's just too much family. Three days until I go home.

The other thing is that my mother's memory is going. She lost my nephew's iPod Touch twice in two days. It probably doesn't help that she's has no idea what the hell it is. She keeps asking if it's his phone. It's troubling, but she refuses to acknowledge that it's an issue. Nor will she admit that she's hard of hearing, but she's gotten deafer than my dad, who is completely deaf in one ear and and had a hearing aid for the other. Her stubbornness is not weakening at all.

She's also insisting on cooking Xmas dinner, even though she's 80 and cooking big meals exhausts her.

As it has most birthdays of D's, including his actual birth day*, storming here in Alabama. No tornado watches this time, and it isn't snow. This time. I think there was a whimper of snow last year. It was cold, I remember that.

* night he was born, there was thunder and lightening, hail, sleet and tornado watches and actual tornadoes in that part of Texas.

Santa's cookies and the reindeer food have been disposed of. Thankfully not in my brother's beer this year.

It's December 25th here. Happy Christmas!!!!

The other thing is that my mother's memory is going.

Oh, Sue. My heart goes out to you and your family. That is so hard.

We have read more of Best Christmas Pageant, plus the Huron Carol, Cajun Night Before Christmas , and Polar Express. Lots more to read tomorrow. It's getting late here. I've had a headache all day that refuses to abate, but that's a small thing.

To all a good night.

Yeah, it definitely is a hard thing. We are getting to the age where we're really dealing with our parents aging, and it's tough.

We're back from Christmas Eve services, which were very nice. They were a combined service, three different churches, which I really enjoyed. We did have the correct advent reading; they did the whole thing. They were written to be done over some weeks, so I skipped the redundant bits, but other people didn't. I think it was better my way. Hee.

The SO got verklempt reading the bit about Mary's decision. I love that he's got such a soft heart.

Now we're home and we deep cleaned the kitchen together. I weighed the goose (six and a half pounds) and marinated the veggies. The Canada goose preparation is so much different from a tame goose. It turns out I won't be getting crazy amounts of goose grease, as this particular goose was wild and spent all its time flying around looking for food, and therefore is not fat.

Still think there's a large rate of failure potential, but it should be fun. All else is in readiness.

The SO got verklempt reading the bit about Mary's decision. I love that he's got such a soft heart.

Awww, that's really sweet!

Happy Birthday! t /Frosty

Happy Christmas! t /Brits

Merry Christmas!

This is what happens when I go to bed at 9:30. I've been awake for half an hour.