
It was fun having my brother and his girlfriend here for the weekend, though four days of gift openings at various parent's houses was nigh exhausting. 5 year old playing Santa—she can read her name now so it was a rip-fest as soon as she spotted the letter "K." More than once, she conveniently forgot my name also begins with "K."
She wrote a note to Santa "Daar To Santa These Cookies eRA for you" (followed with drawing of Rudolf, labeled "Rdof") and left four shortbread cookies by the tree with the note. Imagine her face Christmas morning when she saw the empty baggie and noticed the missing note. Santa will treasure that—it's in her baby book. The deception begins. I slipped and mentioned that I sewed her new princess dress-up dress, but she was OK with me working with Santa.
Snow actually fell on Christmas day in the Willamette Valley. It stuck on the 27th, and we drove through it on the way to the coast for an overnight stay at a nice little dog-friendly hotel in Yachats. Stormy seas made the beach a bad idea, but quite pleasant to watch from behind glass. We stayed in and watched "Stardust." Marvelous film. Review on the way next week.

Enjoy your New Year's. I fully intend to dope the dog with tranquilizers beginning at 7pm on Monday, as our neighbors are fond of setting off illegal booming fireworks until 2am.
Ta! Back to my book…