Indeed, all is well. A very merry Christmas was had in spite of my Monday sniffle bug and the best efforts of [My gifted father-in-law has examined my toilet and found at least two things wrong with it, thus confirming what I havbe protested—that its recalcitrance is NOT my fault.|text|rebellious plumbing]. I have more cheap candy sitting around than I know what to do with, several caches of Non-Cheap Candy (some of it Made by Monks!), new movies, a very good Playstation 2 game, new books, tumblers in my glass pattern, a pretty red tea set, and even, amazingly, stationery. As you know, no one could possibly think of buying me stationery, because my proclivity for the ancient art of pen and paper is so secret and unknown.

I must apologize, I fear, for my laziness in posting of late… I have been a very sniffly lily of the field, toiling not, neither spinning, neither sweeping the kitchen, cooking meals, writing letters, or indeed turning my hand to anything beyond watching TV and reading books. Well, and wrapping presents. Now I am beginning to move out of the haze of my Winter withdrawal and out from behind the wall of my nasal passages, and I shall post more, write more, send out Christmas cards, adhere to my Weight Watchers regime, exercise, paint the kitchen, and read things I haven’t read before. Also, I have been considering the advisability of curing cancer, bringing about world peace, and flapping my arms to fly.

At any rate, I love this time of year, when we think up all manner of warm and wonderful entertainments to shut out the chill and dreary world without, and I love the company of my friends. Thank you for being you, friends, and may your winter joys be great and sufficiently distracting!