Excellent news!

I will begin packing and distributing my holiday goodie bags today, and I must corral the wrapping paper and other materials spread out on the kitchen table. Holiday letters go in the mail late but postmarked well before xmas. Two more boxes need to be closed up and put in the mail (Priority boxes) tomorrow.

It is time to swap out the strings of lights on the ornamental branch I have standing in a large terracotta pot full of gravel. It is a crapemyrtle limb I was going to cut up and put in the trash (a dozen years ago or more it fell over the back fence when next door pruned their plants) but I stopped and realized it was actually a lovely shaped limb. I have strings of lights on it and it stands by the back door and I turn it on every morning as a light source in the house, turning it off at bedtime. I'm sure people new to the house must wonder about it, but I like it. One of the strings has quite a few bulbs burned out over the years so it's time to redo the LED lights. I also have a string of the little incandescent bulbs to put on because those have enough power to run the little motors that turn and you can do three motors per string. Hang an ornament on each motor and they turn slowly in place in a mesmerising way. Of course those were purchased for use on xmas trees, but I haven't had a tree in quite a few years now, so I put ornaments and other decorations on this limb. It looks festive, if odd.

We're still working out what day the family will gather for a meal and gift exchange but it will be Saturday or Sunday. I have a five-day cat sitting gig coming up over the weekend, but for this holiday (unlike Thanksgiving) the main dish of the meal is often made by my ex and our daughter (it's a Puerto Rican rice and peas dish his mother made). So they can cook while I make a cat run and come home to dinner and hope they don't burn the bottom of a good pan (again). We manage to illustrate why the adage of "too many cooks" is based upon real-life conditions.