Merry Christmas! I got a rimless cookie sheet, and so am finally cool. I got other stuff too, but that was the most glamourous.

I was greatly relieved to find that, for a change, my mother liked the present I gave her (lavender bath salts and body lotion) and I didn't need to use my prepared speech to talk her into using them. My mother is unbelievably hard to shop for.

Megan, Quo Vadimus is very funny. Thank you again!

I got a drill, a year's subscription to EW, 90's Trivial Pursuit, some gloves, and winter boots.

A good mix of fun, practical, and a gift that keeps giving for a whole year! (B. got EW too!)

I got a rimless cookie sheet, and so am finally cool.

Crap! I remain among the uncool as my baking sheets are all rimmed. Can we still hang out? (Glad you like the book!)

Presents received at parental's house include 12 books, a frying pan, a polar fleece hoodie, socks galore, Buffy season 7, and a Canadian Tire gift certificate. Have eaten way to much food everyday. Today we are going to see my sister's house for the first time and then meet former Halifax friends (J and P and kids) in Hamilton for dinner. Tomorrow will be "How are we going to pack all this stuff?" day.

Sue, did you make it home or are you stuck in CB? We called Elena last night to see what the situation was and it seemed quite yucky. The picture in the Globe of the town clock was a little reminincent of last February. Fun fun!

Miss you guys - can't wait to get home!

I admit it - most of my cookie sheets still have rims. I have lost all my foodie cred now.

I got the Really, Really Extended version of Return of the King, of which I've watched half and come to the firm conclusion that Peter Jackson should have been restrained - just because you have them on film is no reason to include more scenes in a move that was already oddly paced. (Now I've lost all my Tolkien-geek cred too, oh well.) I also got In the Shadow of No Towers, a ten-year gardening journal, and a Palm. I like computers, but I've always been gadget-challenged (my cellphone and I only recently reached detente) so it'll be interesting to see if I can master the Palm.

I hope all of you get home safely.

Well, I'll forgive you all for your primitive rimmed cookie sheets as long as you're properly ashamed.

I had no need to go outside in the storm, so I decided to walk to my mother's and bake with my youngest sister. Of course I ended up staying the night. The walk was fun! It was very windy, though, and I did end up shoveling two driveways today. The cookies were very good, despite being baked on my mothers regular cookie sheets.

It's very entertaining walking dogs in drifts. Eventually Willa (a greyhound) just stopped and refused to go any further. That meant it was time to go back.

One of my cats was very happy to see me (I'd neglected to put out extra food when I left) and the other is still hiding from me. I'm sure she'll show up eventually. She must be pretty hungry.

Crap! I remain among the uncool as my baking sheets are all rimmed. Can we still hang out? (Glad you like the book!)

Mine are unrimmed too! The Horror! What's worse, even my mom has unrimmed sheets.

Sue, did you make it home or are you stuck in CB? We called Elena last night to see what the situation was and it seemed quite yucky. The picture in the Globe of the town clock was a little reminincent of last February. Fun fun!

I made it back a day later than planned. And that flight was delayed twice. Then I had to wait a half hour for baggage to appear. Be prepared for chaos at the Halifax airport.

There quite a bit of snow down but the worst of it seemed to be the blowing.

Home now. No problem at airport on this end at all. Though we left Hamilton late, we arrived in HFX early.

I won't be at work tomorrow!

I won't be at work tomorrow!

You lucky dog!

Hey Canadians, were I sending a hypothetical package to Halifax, what should the customs form declare the dollar value to be? I (hypothetically) started to put one thing, but then vaguely remembered there was some sort of tax thing, and thought I should, perhaps, put something else.

Deena, I think it's $60 and under for a gift will be duty free, but do not know if that's Canadian funds or not...

It's $60 CDN: [link]

I generally put $10 regardless of the package contents.