Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Your comments, support, encouragement, and general wonderfulness have been a present to me all year long–thank you.

I found this weird little drawing that I did a couple years ago hanging around, so I decided to toss it up here for you all. The donkey’s grin is very toothy . . . the cow is straining to get some more camera time . . . and yes, Joseph’s arms is quite long.

I hope this day finds you happy, surrounded by loved ones, covered in afghans, schmooshy pillows piled around you, very soft socks on your feet, and enjoying a hot cup of something tasty.

I’m taking next week off from blogging, so you’ll see me back around here after the New Year. Unless I (or Automated Robot Jenna) decide to randomly make an appearance, which I reserve the right to do or not do as the Yuletide moves me.

In the meantime, keep it cozy!

Christmas cake revisited

We’re getting ready to go to my in-laws’ for Christmas–we leave tomorrow, as soon as I get off work. The day after Christmas, we’re connecting with Heidi, Mike and little James in Indianapolis and driving to Wisconsin, where we’ll spend three days with my parents and touch in with Mama Kitty and Big Jake. From there, my husband and I hop on a train back to Chicago, where our good friend Tyler and his lovely lady Liz will be at our apartment (we mailed them a key in case you’re curious). And the day after that, we head to South Bend for our annual New Years party!

So if you’re wondering where the heck I am in the days to come, now you know.

The preparations involve:

-Packing for a week, and light enough that we can carry it all back on the train.

-Packing every single outfit I may possibly want to wear . . . which conflicts with the whole concept of ‘packing light.’ I’ll be duking it out with the suitcase tonight.

-Packing up my old camera for bequeathment to Heidi–more about that soon!

-Cleaning the house! We can’t have Tyler and Liz entering a den of filth.

-Trying to rid the hallway once and for all of its weird funk. Help me, Airwick!

–Figure out the computer situation so that I can manage to log in remotely to my work computer on a daily basis. Yep, I’m “off” for the week between Christmas and New Years . . . but not quite “off” if you know what I mean.

Presents have already been transported to Indiana, materials to make my annual Christmas cake await in the kitchen of my mother-in-law Sara, and, well, there you have it. Now if you feel the need to send Christmas mojo, good karma, well wishes, or prayers my way, you can locate me . . . in your mind.

Alrighty then! For the rest of what I want to share this morning, check out this link, which will take you to my post last year about Christmas cake. My husband and I don’t have a lot of traditions at this point. We’ve never celebrated Christmas on our own, and have no kiddos. But the one thing that I’ve made a point to do every year is whip up an angel food cake and . . . well, you can read it about it yourself. It’s my favoritest thing. It makes me feel all Christmassy inside.

So! Where are all of you going to be next week? And anyone want to jump on the Christmas cake bandwagon?