Yikes, meara. Use us anytime to type away. I hope you were able to have some fun.

The pumpkin pie is almost gone, but I made a new tray of stuffing because it's the most versatile leftover.

I made an absurd amount of stuffing because it is my favorite.

I put up the lights and red bows on my balcony. It was a chore and I was drenched by the time I finished despite wearing next to nothing. There are a couple small sections that aren't lighting, but it isn't real obvious. I'll try and figure that out at some point. The tree is up which already has lights so although no decorations yet it is still pretty. Objective today is to get enough stuff off the floor that the robot vacuum has a chance. I really don't want to sweep.

My sister came over to help with more unpacking, and we made a lot of progress. The kitchen still needs a bit of work, and there are more books and random stuff to unpack. But the living room looks like a living room, I could work in my office if I needed to, and I even have a couple of bird feeders up. (The birds found it about 90 seconds after I came back inside.) I’d say I was at a point where I could take a break and put up the Christmas tree, but I always watch my Lord of the Rings extended edition DVDs while I do so. So more unpacking for me.

ETA: player found!

There are a couple small sections that aren't lighting, but it isn't real obvious. I'll try and figure that out at some point.

Somehow, I only remembered to test one of the three strings of lights on our tree before putting them up (the middle one). That was a mistake.

The third strand didn’t work at all so that one has been disposed of and replaced. The first strand has big chunks of it that aren’t lighting so I did my best to bunch of those up in the back. Once the ornaments are up no way it’s going to be apparent without close examination.

A friend brought the stuffing to our do, but we ended up with the leftover. It...lacked cohesion (good flavor, but very much cubes of bread), so I chucked it in a skillet with some egg, then added gravy at the end, to get a bit more of my traditional dressing experience.

The 15 month old very much approves

The Wicked matinees were sold out at my local theater and I gave up on buying gifts for work friends today upon seeing the parking lot at TJ Maxx, so I instead untangled my new solar Christmas lights and had Mom unspool them for me as I strung them up and set the solar panel. There must have been a partial charge already in the battery as they're now lit up. Once I buy some more hooks this week, I'll try my hand at moving some of them to the diagonal eaves on the front of my house.

Also, got Little Drummer Boyed first thing Friday morning on my way to shop for gifts.

Biden pardoned Hunter. YES! Use those powers, Joe!

We still have sweet potato pie left.

Biden pardoned Hunter. YES! Use those powers, Joe!

Excellent. I hope the next 7 weeks are a flurry of Biden flexing his executive office muscles.

Do what you gotta do, Joe, while you can.

I survived the awkward fusion dancing, and left my friend’s at 9am. I stopped twice for gas and once at a rest stop, and still didn’t make it to Palm Springs until 7pm. So tired. But although my friend who organizes this is not coming until Saturday (because she just had surgery), another friend is here, which is v good (it would be creepy and sad alone) and I unpacked and am prepared to settle in for the month. Yay! Tomorrow work, but also getting groceries and looking at calendars and stuff.

One year I had too much stuffing and made a version of this with it [link]

It was heavenly.