And a lovely Christmas it looks to be, too.

 
We had our traditional Christmas Eve get-together with my Bro and his family. Since my poor, overworked SIL had to work until noon, we decided to have it – and Boy #2’s 11th birthday – at our house. Between Hubby and myself we made roasted pork loin with rubbed rosemary, huge amounts of mashed potatoes, Romany blend veggies, gravy, and a chocolate Wacky cake for the birthday boy.  My Bro and SIL brought dinner rolls, ice cream, and SIL decorated the cake once she arrived. It was good food, good fellowship, and good fun!

Boy #2 got two books and a magic set from us, and a Bejeweled 2 game for the computer from his uncle, aunt and cousin. His big present will be a dog… but will have to wait until after we get a decent fence to keep said dog in. 2007 will be the year we try dog ownership again, but this time with a puppy that we can train from the beginning. Our poodle was good; she taught us a lot, but being an older, and very spoiled, dog was difficult for us all. Maybe starting when the dog is young will work better for us, though I’m not looking forward to housetraining.

My parents sent the kids a Playstation 2. We’ve never had a "video game" system before, unless you count the Gameboy Advanced units that each of the kids have. We ended up buying a multi-tap, a memory card, and two more controller units so that all three kids can play. They’re very excited about it; I’m looking forward to the day when the novelty wears off. My Bro, knowing that we were getting this, bought 6 used games, and I bought one new one, so the kids are off to a good start with a game library.

Though my husband doesn’t know it yet, this is the year of Captain Kiddeo! My daughter and I have been working very hard on some "official" Space Time Follies merchandise, in honor of Hubby continuing his strip again after the first of the year. I’ve made two t-shirts for him: one with a picture of Captain Kiddeo and Fred the Space Pirate (Dread) that he’d done in crayon one night at kids’ club, and one of Captain Kiddeo’s oddball face taking up most of the front of the t-shirt. The first was done with a t-shirt transfer that I printed out on the inkjet printer. It looks really cool on the black t-shirt. The other was done with paint. I was originally going to just  do the outline of the character, but on discussion with the kids, I decided to paint the whole thing in. They helped, and it’s dried well.

The other piece of "official" merchandise is a one-of-a-kind Captain Kiddeo doll. My daughter got the bee in her bonnet to make the thing and I offered to help since it’s a lot faster to do this kind of thing on a sewing machine than by hand. It was not easy; we started with a pattern for a stuffed bunny body, arms, and legs, but had to create our own head pattern, and alter the clothing to fit the doll. Still, it’s going to look good… well, as good as can be. I think my husband will enjoy it.

I am looking forward to the morning and seeing the kids’ faces when they open their gifts, and seeing my husband’s surprise at his. I usually don’t know what to get him; he mentions so many, many things throughout the year, and I don’t write them down, so come Christmas time, I’ve forgotten. But this year was easier.  A Rocky and Bullwinkle t-shirt, a Wattsamatta U. sweatshirt, a book on the art of Discworld, the Batman-Spirit crossover comic book, and the Captain Kiddeo stuff. Oh, and a mini-MP3 player.  Not an iPod, but a different brand, one made for PCs. It’s a name brand, too, so it should be okay. 

As for my gifts, I know at least two of them, but he’s gotten a couple of things that I have no idea about, so I know I’ll have some surprises under the tree.

Time to stuff the stockings. More later!

And a Merry Christmas to all my friends!