Sitting downstairs, listening to my brother & SIL & eldest nephew banter in the bedroom & just really glad to be here.(I offered to sleep on the couch-I'm the last to bed & first up, but nephew insisted I take his room. I think he likes the opportunity to play camping in the house.i dunno.)

I got pretty good family.

Wrapped mostly everything today. Have stocking stuffers & randos to go. And gift cards/charity donations.

How nice is the spare, shrift? I say it's christmas, treat yo'self!

How nice is the spare, shrift?

The spare is a refurbished version of my dead phone, and the new one is going to be a refurbished version because I'm not upgrading to a model without a headphone jack. Otherwise I would treat myself to something shiny.

Plodding through my wrapping. I have a bunch of extra tree ornaments so I have been putting them on top of the packages instead of bows, which are still in storage somewhere. Pretty.

It was super windy yesterday so my outside decorations took a hit, but pretty much back together.

Listening to Louis Armstrong and Leon Redbone xmas tunes this morning.

Eating xmas cookies for after-breakfast (which was more hashbrowns with fried eggs).

Matilda is lazing in bed with a pig, but has a cookie baking party over at Davi's house (literally around the corner) at noon.

Matilda and JZ will be going to Dickens Fair tomorrow, and Emmett and EM will be here on xmas eve.

It's all sorting out.

I need to redo the lights on the tree, not enough multi colored to do the whole tree as densely as I had started them, so now the bottom is only white and kinda bare looking. some food and a movie first though.

Y'all, choir this morning was so exhausting that I'm not over it yet! Phew. Tomorrow is church in the morning, band in the afternoon, and all I have to do before noon on Monday is make cream puffs, put ribbons on presents, straighten up, and wash the kitchen floor. And do my nails. And go to a party tonight. That should all be doable.

Whew. I got up to try to make muffins for a solstice brunch. And took a Lyft even though it was like six blocks away. The muffins were supposed to be an "inspired by but easier than" take on this roll I loooooove at a bakery in Portland, called a Gibassier. The muffins are sorta but the bread is lots better but I think it needs more oomph. It's an anise and orange peel muffin. Which is weird. But I still dig it. Only problem was there were only about five people at brunch. So now I guess I'll find out how the muffins freeze?

Buffistas- I swear I read all the time and just jump in here in times of stress, but..

If you recall I found my fathers family. Which 2 years ago, I would have been really interested in. But my work life is so stressful and we are building a new theatre at my other job and my cat died and I feel like I will explode from the stress without this

I just turned off my lights and hid as my sister delivered Christmas Cookies.

I am a horrible person

I literally just can't deal

My question is- my BFF says I can't possibly have contact with them without telling my mom. But I do not want to get into this with my mom because that has the potential of my mom not talking to me for years and she is elderly and not in good health. I think maybe my friend is expecting my mom to have sane rational reactions and I am not... BTW my new sister is probably closer to my moms age than mine, so that is also a concern. I am not equipped for this !

Sophia, I would not tell your mom. I see absolutely no upside from what you have said here. I'm sorry this is adding to your stress.

Quiet here. DH is off watching college football in Fort Lauderdale. I've done some wrapping, and otherwise just lazing around.

One upside of shutdown, Trump canceled his trip to Mar-a-Lago, which awesome for traffic around here at this crazy time of year when everyone on the island is in residence. Plus, I'm sure it really pisses him off, and since Melania and Baron have been forced to return to DC it no doubt pisses them off too, so he has them mad at him as well as the rest of the world. Ahh.

Anise and orange peel muffins sound tasty to me.