Merry Christmas, everyone!

This has been so much better than my birthday I can't tell you. Dad continues to recuperate; today he got dressed up nice for the first time, putting Mother in raptures. He also took one (very skimpy) serving of sausage stuffing and gravy - both cardio no-nos - which pissed her off mightily. But on the whole he's been eating well, so I figure one serving spoonful won't make him keel over. Mother is not as convinced of this.

And to make the inner 3-year-old happy, there were presents. Not the megapiles of years past, but a few for each of us and that's all right. My brother gave me the first season of The Irish RM on DVD, my Aunt gave me the 40th anniversary Mary Poppins, and my parents have given me some money and a massage and some tchotkies. (For example - there's always a toothbrush in the stocking every year, even this one.) Mother was happy to get the cookbooks, and my brother is happy that I got him the last book in a trilogy he's been reading. (It was a very Barnes and Noble Christmas.)

I've even chugged through four of the six books that I had to review. Ho-ho-homicide, yes, but at least that's one less duty following me into the new year.

Take care, all!