I’ve had a nice weekend in Connecticut in a pre-Christmas celebration with my brother, who is in from L.A., my uncle’s family, who will be in Oregon for Christmas, my folks, and my grandmother.

It was a nice visit and now I head back to D.C. to finish up some work, some shopping, and some baking (plus writing those aforementioned cards). I’m hoping to get lots done during the week so that next weekend can be spent visiting friends and my dad’s side of the family and doing relaxed Christmas-related activities. (That’s not my normal m.o. so only time will tell how successful I’ll be….)

Yarn-related projects progress. People who read the blog will benefit from my productivity, so the rest of you will just have to wait for photos until after the recipients open their presents.

If you haven’t received a Christmas/New Year/Hannukah/Solstice card from me yet and were expecting one, well, it’s because they’ve not yet been sent out.

But rest assured that the only thing that’s holding me up from sending them on their way to you is writing the cards and addressing the envelopes.

I want the card to mean something — and to be able to spend a few minutes thinking of you as I’m writing it. We don’t use an auto-pen or e-signature here in the Burrow.

So chalk it up to the fact that I have not had adequate time to spend thinking about you in a meaningful way — and that I will … soon.

In the meantime, accept my generic good wishes and love and appreciation and wishes for a happy holiday season for you and yours.

The work meeting is over. I will be able to return to the office tomorrow knowing that the participants generally were happy with the things that were within my control to make good. Unfortunately, I also will be returning to a number of things that I put on hold that really ought not to have been. Oh well. I’ll work hard to clear them off my desk this week.

Except on Tuesday. I have a dentist appointment in the morning, so I’ve just booked the whole day off as a sick day. Going to doctors and dentists always makes me feel pretty queasy, so it’s really not much of a stretch. Plus, I haven’t come close to using up my sick days this year (I even worked through that nasty bout of strep I had this summer), so I’m not going to feel bad about it.

I am looking forward to sleeping in until 8 a.m. tomorrow. What excitement!

Yesterday dawned clear and warm. But by the time sunset rolled around, the temperature had dropped and the wind had risen. Ridiculously. In fact, I had a Marilyn Monroe moment yesterday afternoon. Except, of course, that instead of standing over a subway grate and wearing a gauzy skirt, I was wearing tights and a wool jumper (that went down to my knees!) and was unloading boxes out of my car. All I can say is that I still have very fast reflexes!

As I was leaving my meeting just after 9, the air had settled into a decidedly nippy temperature range, but in a seasonable way, if you know what I mean. (I am not in favor of the sauna-like weather we experienced last week!) And then it started to snow.

It was just flurries, but still… It was lovely and majestic and magical and Christmassy.

At least until I turned the corner into the wind, again….

I’m here and everything is okay. But I’m going to be a little quieter than usual this week as I gear up for two meetings that span four days and nights (including 3/4 of the weekend).

I have lots of things to talk about — the Romancing the Yarn felting kit I won from Jean Brashear that arrived last night, the Conn holiday party we’re attending tonight, the finished objects I’ve knit (including my November socks and an adorable baby sweater that’s blocking at home right now) — but they’re all going to have to wait…

… because the forefront of my brain is going, “Ack! Ack! Ack!” and it’s hard to write over that.

I was right — about 4:30, Rudi and I started to relax into the rhythms of the party.

One guest accidentally arrived a little early, thinking that he’d given us 45 minutes to iron out the kinks from the time he thought the party started.

Folks brought beer and wine and cookies. My friend Amani made indoor smores, saving me from having to make brownies. (Thank you!!!)

The tree is up, lit, and trimmed, and looks festive and sparkly. My headache has dissipated. And the cats are thoroughly enjoying the soft ornaments that decorate the tree’s lower limbs as well as the water in the tree stand.

And I completely forgot to move the candy canes onto the food table, so it’s good you guys convinced me not to buy fresh ones for 2006. Thanks for your wise words.