Christmas was a big success.

I got tinsel on the tree. Jenn is opposed and swears we never had as kids. I remember putting that stuff on the tree as a child, so I asked my mother, and as usual my memories are correct: we did have tinsel until I decided it was too much of a risk for the cats and stopped that. This batch of cats isn't interested in the tree at all, so I'm not very concerned.

I had put the tinsel up myself because I thought that it might look less like the deranged product of a drunken monkey, but then I found out that there is no possibility of not looking amusingly bad unless you put each strand on individually, and who the heck does that? (According to my mother, the answer to that question would be "your father, until he got frustrated halfway through". This makes a lot of sense, actually.)

The nieces found the wrapping paper and went nuts wrapping presents that were not really presents, but they were as enthused about them as if they were, so that's all right. We found Ana's present that we had lost, so she got that, and we even got candy canes on the tree, though they were sold out of mint. Blech. And the girls loved their gifts from us, which is the best part, isn't it? I can no longer walk through the house without stepping on something made from pipe cleaners or a painted picture, but that's not the point.

Now all we need to do is decide what we are doing for Little Christmas....