I have started assembling a holiday diorama on my mantle, so far with garland (gold, silver, and green tree-like) and a string of small rice lights. There are now three nutcrackers standing amongst the garland and the three uplights (that sit there year-round and are occasionally turned on to make the stone wall look better) are each offering side illumination. I'll continue to add to it, following the rule of thumb of one of my dearest friends - "nothing says Christmas like excess!"

In consideration of the earlier discussion of leaky pipes and repairs, I have a mostly replaced sewer line, with the new PVC ending a few feet from where the house line intersects with the city under the street. The repair stopped just short of where the gas line should be because my friends couldn't find it and didn't want to hit it. One day last month I ran the dishwasher and the clothes washer right after each other and had water back up into the tub. So I'm doing the careful dance of not running too much water at one time down the drain, and I'll periodically pour a sewer line grease cutter to try to keep it open. Two things that dampen the holiday spending season are a plumber's visit or a dash to the veterinarian, so we try to avoid those.

I have received my first holiday card, a reminder that I shouldn't dawdle if I want to mail mine in time for people to add me back to their lists. I used to send over 50, now it's barely 20 because I've lost track of people and they've lost track of me.