T.G.I.F.!

    And I use T.G.I.F. as in: Those Gifts I Found-in-the-other-closet-last-night-and-how-do-we-have-this-much-stuff-to-wrap?!
    I'd forgotten how nice it is having a full weekend before the "official" holiday days hit. It seems to my memory that for the last few years, the holiday statutory dates were falling on weekends and there was no way to have a couple last-minute things go wrong without causing excess chaos. Or maybe it was just really busy and the excess chaos was happening anyway?
    Whatever it was, what it is this year is a whole weekend of being able to prep and still sleep. That means a whole extra day to, well, hang out with the kids and do a craft or two, probably get laundry done, and possibly even open a word file and play with a story. Also, I can make ALL THE FOOD. I'm not a fan or follower of the doctrine behind Christmas, my personal beliefs lean into family togetherness and lighting up a few candles while having a wee feast for Solstice to celebrate the return of the sun, but I can get behind this being the season for gathering friends and family together for tasty meals and special desserts multiple days in a row! Plus, it's super-sized fun doing the gift-opening activities while the kids are small enough to light up brighter than the tree and big enough to understand it's a special occasion.

    If you're like me and will have a few moments this weekend to enjoy yourself, these are pretty well the only "Christmas" songs that I will seek out and try to listen to at least once over the holidays. I'll just leave these links right here in case you need a giggle :)

​Christmas at Ground Zero

Weird Al Yankovic

Grandma Got Run Over
​by a Reindeer

The Irish Rovers

    This week was entirely plugged with baking and kid recitals. To the extent that this is the first time I've been able to sit at my computer and write anything longer than an email, and I think the email happened on Wednesday... from my phone. *Shrug* Onward into the oldest kid's final day of school for this year, and then two weeks of holiday break! Happy Solstice and best wishes from my house to yours that you get to have a wonderful whatever you celebrate! :D