We had our Christmas last night with our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. We always have it early so that everyone can make the rounds of all the family get-togethers they need to attend, as well as having time to work Santa Claus in. This was our earliest, but it worked out really well. The youngest will be a year old on Tuesday, has just started walking, and doesn't wear dresses much. She had a new Christmas dress, and kept lifting up her skirt and flipping it in a very feminine way.

Anyway, my daughter gave me a big gift bag filled with reading stuff. There was a little china teapot with books and authors printed on it and two tiny books as the knob on the lid, a tee shirt that says, "The world was hers for the reading -- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," a bronze-looking sitting statuette of a Modigliani-style woman reading a book, a plaque with the "I cannot live without books" quote from Thomas Jefferson, a box of French macarons (which I have hidden), AND a book, Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. Riches indeed for savoring some quiet time before the frenzy of next weekend.

Merry Christmas, everyone, and I wish all of you a very happy one.