Christmas morning

I was pretty tired last night after we got back from my sister Betsy's house for Christmas Eve dinner (apparently, I haven't entirely recovered from this week's medical procedure, and the girls had been up late the previous night, too, so we ended the evening super early). We did have one tragedy as we were setting up for the Christmas breakfast this morning. Since I was so tired, I asked Fiona to set the table with our Christmas dishes. Unfortunately, the box which held her mug that she's had since she was a baby was put, inexplicably, in the cupboard upside down. It was a collectible Winnie the Pooh mug, with a Pooh figurine inside which endearingly poked his head out once the milk inside was drunk up. Poor Pooh crashed onto the kitchen counter, and the pieces flew everywhere.
Fiona was heartbroken and many tears were shed. It's funny how such a simple thing can assume such a vast importance. My heart ached for her, too. And how ironic that her child mug should be broken on the first year she has come back for Christmas from college. I looked on ebay and didn't see one like it. We will do some searching around to see if we can find something else that would be appropriate for her new adult status.

( Here's poor Pooh: we decided to put him on the table to show he wasn't forgotten: )

( Stockings were a big hit )

( Then we had our Christmas breakfast )

Once the kitchen was cleaned up, we opened presents.

( Delia got a big kick out of the fun socks Fiona found for her )

( Fiona snuggled some more with her Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles lounging pants )

A highlight for me was a mysterious package which had been left on the porch earlier this week, signed 'Santa's Elves'. ( I was absolutely delighted with the contents, as you can see here )

But for me the most amazing gift of all, perhaps the best Christmas gift I've received EVAH came in two parts. When I opened the first part, I laughed so hard that tears came out of my eyes for about ten minutes.

( It was a promotional poster for the cookbook I always said I'd write someday, Cooking for Ingrates )

I thought that nothing could delight me more than that poster. Yet my family did better than that. As if that wasn't special enough, they gave me the actual BOOK! Delia, that clever little creative person, had dreamed this fantastic idea up and designed the book herself more than a month ago.

( Here's a video of me opening the best Christmas I've ever received in my entire life )

Here's the front cover of the book: and here's the back:

Such a happy Christmas (aside from the lamentable Pooh cup incident). I hope yours was as marvelous as ours.

(Everyone in my household aside from me is asleep now. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and the opportunity to catch up on your sleep)