Sigh. This year is the first one Dylan has had a clear idea of the holiday season, and he woke up demanding Christmas presents. The fact that at least half the toys in our living room are Hannukah presents he opened three weeks ago does not seem to be impressing him at all.

And it's cold and gray and everything is closed and I'm nine months pregnant and trapped inside with a stir-crazy preschooler who won't stop screaming. I hate winter.

Merry Christmas, or other appropriate holiday greeting, Bitches. The Girl is doing all the work while I'm still dealing with my post-viral yuk. It is very good of her. We both got each other Bill Bailey's new DVD, which says it all about us really. (It is a very good DVD.) Hope people who are sick feel better in time for the Queen's speech - never mind, you don't do that.

Cookies: for those who aren't my sister's fb friends, she named her gallstone Pete. Completely without knowing the etymology.

Hee! Glad to hear she's feeling a bit better. Wishing you both lots of health~ma.

Tag problem edit. Several times.

Oh, ugh, Jess, I'm sorry. The tail end of pregnancy is a weary enough grind without winter grayness and Dylan piling on as well.

And ongoing vibes to smonster's sister, and may Pete vacate the premises with a minimum of fuss on Monday.

{{{{{Jessica}}}}} Dylan, be nice to mommy.

TCG and I have opened presents. His stepmother called and said if we didn't want to we didn't have to bake the cake for today that I was up until 12:30 baking last night. And I am much more interested in snuggling up with my new copy of Salem's Lot than I am in spending another day being social.

Nice list: Bipolar CD player decided to kick in and play Vince Guaraldi today after not working right for weeks. Um, on the naughty list(Although the initial terminology was more...Milchly) the naughty Christians at the attendant agency that closed on Christmas Eve without giving my mother her paycheck. They might actually *need* God's protection if it's not in Monday's mail. My mother takes her paychecks *very* seriously. "In West Baltimore, you could have your friends beat him with a 2 X4, if you were in the game." I offer cheerfully, because I am a good daughter like that. She seems cheered so I go on to say in that scenario he'd feel lucky to escape with his life and limp away chastened. Luckily, the attendant thing is a second job. But we don't get presents yet. CD player still stops working and says "Error" about a quarter in.

Merry Christmas, Bitches!

Merry whatevers, darlings!

Yay for the CD player and Pete the gallstone behaving themselves, even if it is only briefly.

Not Yay, for paychecks not being dealt out in a timely fashion.

sj, that reversal on the cake is definitely grounds for a cream pie fight, if life were a black-and-white comedy.

Jessica, I hope Dylan calms down soon.

smonster, I hope your sister's gallstone decides to stay quiet until the scheduled surgery and that said surgery goes swimmingly.

omnis, I get cold easily so I could totally imagine such a shirt being useful even in SoCal.

erika, I hope those deadbeats give your mom her paycheck soonest. It's never ok to skip people's paychecks but it's especially cruel during xmas.

Kinda anti-climactic Christmas for me but I've had those for many years now. I guess this one was a little tougher than usual because of all the fallout from my move and my grandmother's death has impacted the physical space here so much. But in the last day or two my family made a Herculean effort to move the clutter to less public rooms and decorate. The house looks very nice.

I'm listening to a DJ friend do a 5 hour broadcast with a couple of his DJ friends on KOOP Austin. They're playing some cool stuff.

I apologize for the mememe downer post on Christmas morning! I swear some days I should not be allowed to be around people. Even virtual ones.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! That's what I meant to say, anyway.

(And you know, I do think that "Merry Christmas" applies to everyone today - it's December 25th, and I hope everyone has a wonderful day today celebratory or otherwise! We can go back to Happy Holidays tomorrow.)

DH has taken Dylan to the playground (suck it, December weather) leaving me just enough time to get some hair dye in before lunch. Which reminds me, I should check on how bleached I am before I lose track of time and overdo it.

I don't think you should apologize, Jessica. One of the great failings of American culture, in my opinion, is the idea that folks are not supposed to talk about anything that isn't pleasant and positive. Horse puckey. True friendship means being willing to hear the kvetches as well as the kvells.

ION: It's supposed to rain tonight. I should get dressed and take a walk while I can.