It's a wonderful life

...written yesterday afternoon...

Oof. I just got finished with another enormous feast {I say 'another' because, gosh, has it only been two posts since Thanksgiving? Bad Gwyn!}. Once again fit to burst and brimming with the kind of laughter that can only be endured by being silly with the family. I very much hope that you are the same.

 Propped up on my bed surrounded by last night's loot, proudly wearing my paper hat from my Christmas cracker, I type to you of the month's events while the boys play the new Wii game console from the Fat Man himself. But where to begin..?

 I might as well start with today and recount backwards.... I awoke this morn to the tantalizing smell of a turkey in the oven and was shortly thereafter enlisted in the kitchen. I am very proud to say that I did not mess up a single recipe {people who know me well know that I can't even make a cake from the box without mungling it up somehow}. You heard me right. I chopped those celery and carrot sticks to perfection. Plus I handled the olive platter all by my self. That's right. Jealousy abounds.
 While I did well, the turkey didn't fare so well for Mum. While taking it out of the oven the pan crippled and the... the... turkey juice? Ugh, I know there's a name for the drippings..! -- went sloosh back into the oven. All of it. All I could think while I watched (as if in slow motion) was: 'Nooooo! There goes my breakfast of croissants and gravy for the rest of the week! Noooo!'
 Mum and I thought we'd done it then. Our stove is gas so, I don't know. I was thinking a long the lines of nuclear explosion if we turned it on again, and we weren't even half done with the baking. Things were looking grim for Christmas dinner.
 But as it turned out, Da just came along, cleaned up the mucho oven mess, and said it'd be fine. Always the skeptic, I left the kitchen before they turned it on again. If they wanted to spend Christmas without their eyebrows, they could go ahead.

 Here's one of my presents that I got from my brother. Genuine hand-tooled leather journal of the Celtic tradition.

Yesterday was spent mostly in preparation for today; baking and etc. Also, I believe some very last minute shopping was done, but I shall not 'name fingers or point names'...
 Big brother and I played prelude to the candle light services at our church. Little Brother also made his debut there playing The Infant King duet with me {He also plays violin}.
 Once home, the whole family {Biggest Sister flew home the 15th} gathered around the Christmas tree and the gifts were given.

The days proceeding Christmas Eve are rather a blur of monotony. The weather has been cold and windy, sometimes snow, though that's all gone now. We're having a brown Christmas. Thus trapped indoors Biggest Sis, LB, and I played a four hour game of Monopoly on Wednesday {LB won}. Thursday we once again had nothing better to do so I pulled out a mystery puzzle we had gotten for Christmas a few years ago but never had time to put together. It's called Murder on the Titanic (1,000 pieces). You're given a short story to read about two rich twin sisters onboard the RMS Titanic in which one of them is supposedly murdered just before the ship itself sinks. To solve the mystery you put the puzzle together and on it should be the answer. I say 'should' because we haven't actually finished it yet. We're not even positive there was a murder. The story was poorly written. Instead of a mystery its more like reading a first-draft manuscript that someone has taken a shotgun to {lots of holes}. Not exactly a Whodunit? its more of a Waitwhat?? Still, who ever painted {whether digitally or manually} the puzzle picture itself did a beautiful job, even if including a large pink satin gown to take up half the bloomin' thing was a mistake, in my book. I now thoroughly hate that particular shade of magenta.

.... And that's really all. Between the two of us, Biggest Sis and I have consumed at least three boxes of tea, and I've probably eaten my weight in chocolate covered peanut clusters. Add to that new watercolor pencils, The Son of Neptune, cozy sweaters, and the lack of graphing algebra.... I love Christmas break.

Happy Christmas, everyone.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

-Gwyn