Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. It is fun for me, too, to read your stories.

Epic, {{}} and ~ma. I'm sorry this is the how your Christmas turned out to be.

ION, my dog is 10 years old today. I did sing him Happy Birthday, but he didn't seem to care. Then we gave him some meat, and he approved it a lot more. Earlier we played, and there's still much of the puppy in him as he is chasing the basketball, one of his favorite toys.

Much ~ma for your mom, Epic. And for your BFF, Ginger.

The Boy and I managed to get each other similar gifts, which is really funny, because I didn't know what he was getting me, and he didn't know what I was getting him.

I got him the Absinthe and Flamethrowers book, and he got me a book on the history of our neighborhood (which I had really been wanting).

I got him black PVC/latex stockings, and he got me black retro lingerie.

I got him a red safety light for his bicycle, and he got me a t-shirt with a red semi-colon on it. (Okay, that last one is reaching in terms of similarities, but the books and the black unmentionables just cracked us both up.)

Much peace and strength~ma to Ginger's BFF and her whole family.

So far, my bestest prezzie has been not having to go in to work.

We're in Deepest Darkest Hampshire with my family.

Any other murricanistas have to double-take to not read that as "New Hampshire"?

There's a store in NY that sells rare and antiquarian cookbooks, and my sister knows that she can get me pretty much anything from there and I'll love it.

I'm not allowed in that store because I would go broke in about twelve seconds. Allowing me access to the cookbook aisle in the Strand is dangerous enough.

Ginger, very best wishes for your best friend. Sounds like a dreadful situation to be in.

Any other murricanistas have to double-take to not read that as "New Hampshire"?

Heh. 'Darkest Hampshire' has long been my name for the deep dark woods where my parents live. Actually, my mother has now moved to Dorset (the next county along). Makes no difference. It has become iconic, has poor Darkest Hampshire.

There's a dog whining at me for attention. It's not my dog. They are strange creatures. I am a cat person.

Merry Christmas! (TAWC)

That's all. Gotta go do a little bit of tidying up before the in-laws get here and the great unwrapping begins!

Semi-colon t-shirt on a very happy wordnerd.

Nice punctuation, Tep!

Pete, do you love your ghastly Predator head?

I have mostly cleaned up from our dinner for eight last night. EM made a traditional New England clambake for JZ with lobsters, clams and mussels.

I don't really like lobster and clams only in a linguini cream sauce. But I poached off Emmett's steak and had pre-loaded with lots of the insanely tasty pate. Fortunately, all the guests were happy with the seafood feast.

We're having a brief respite before we head off to see JZ's extended family. I'm hoping there will be lamb served among the Greeks.

That's an awesome photo, Teppy!

Alas, further plans for the day have been cancelled due to roads icing over. I'm both bummed and relieved. Also, while not greek, I will be having lamb tonight. Since I am being denied my mom's roast beef, I'm hauling the world's tiniest rack of lamb out of the freezer. With what I have around the house, I can probably make myself a very nice middle-eastern style dinner.