Well, no pictures yet but it's been way too long since I've posted anything here, so let's catch up a bit. Christmas was great for us. We did have a quick trip to the emergency room to check up on Polly's big toe, but that turned out to be only a minor problem. She had an ingrown toenail that went from nothing to weird green-gray in 24 hours. We panicked and took her to get it looked at, but she's fine now. Scary how something can happen so quickly.

So from the AF hospital we went straight over to Dane's sister Danielle's for a Christmas party. She and John had a Cajun-style food fest that ended up being a lot of fun. The whole family wasn't there, but it was good to see those who were (except for maybe just one) and we watched the weirdest-ever Christmas movie. It's this bizarre claymation show hosted by dinosaur thingies and actually featured the California Raisins. Kind of dates it right there, doesn't it? But anyway, we hung out till the bitter end, last to leave as usual :) , and it was nice to see them even though Danielle's health is failing fast now. She's a tough chick still hosting these holiday get-togethers, and she's pretty much the only reason we see anyone from the family at all anymore.

So then Christmas Eve Susie and the family came by and we cooked up a ham. Dane also made a vat o' clam chowder that turned out really well. I'm a little tired of it by now, but I'll admit it's really really super good. My kids were so excited to see their cousins they barely slept the night before, and they're still talking about all the weird jokes we missed during the visit. That and every time Romy does something by mistake she says "Oh, poopy pants." That one came from Lizzie, apparently. Thanks, Susie. ;)

But it was great to see them, too, and the definite highlight was Doug entertaining us at the piano with old Grease tunes and Journey, and of course my favorite, Night Ranger. "ooooh, moooooootorin'..."

So then came Christmas Day. My god I thought the girls would never sleep. All night long of "Mom, what was that noise? I think I heard something!"

haha that reminds me. I was knitting Romy a hat and grabbed my needles and they made this jingling sound. It was probably two days before Christmas but they were watching Christmas specials all day and Romy spun around like I was Rudolph or something. She was so sad to see me there with my needles. Such a letdown. :)

But anyway, they eventually fell asleep and even let us sleep in till around 9 AM. Didn't feel like much sleep, but it actually was. Not that they needed us, really, though. Romy just about started without us. She was a present-unwrapping machine. She was done before Dane and I even started. Weird to think I used to be like that. All I could think about was how long till I could brew some coffee. Does that make me old?

So Christmas was beautiful, and we listened to CDs all day -- well, I did anyway. Dane napped a lot and I worked on a puzzle and stuffed myself with chocolate. Candy and Leonard Cohen are about all I need these days -- oh, and I did get my coffee, too. And the kids played hard and slept that night like rocks. All in all a good holiday.

Hope you all had fun festivities as well. And if I didn't get your Christmas card to you this year I'm sooooo sorry. Things sort of fell apart at the end there. We've been fighting the neverending flu at our house. I was the walking dead the week before Christmas, and now Dane's got it pretty bad. Night before last he coughed so hard all night I slept on the couch. I was actually bouncing clear off the bed, catching air. Poor guy.

But yeah, on that note, Merry Christmas to all. We love you, and thanks for reading my blog. It's kind of my last light touch on anything social these days. I miss you all so much and never seem to call anyone. So thanks for keeping tabs on me, and I'll try to be a better friend in the coming year. My resolution. Oh, and maybe a diet...