We had a nice Christmas and first day of Hanukah. We all exchanged gifts, but less expensive than in past years, and made a collective donation to Habitat for Humanity’s Katrina-specific recovery efforts. We also ate almost all of two six-pound legs of lamb, a good bit of red wine, assorted delicious fresh vegetables (in the middle of winter – modern life is better than we realize, most of the time), and several cookies and some spectacularly stinky Shropshire blue cheese. We – or some some of us, at various times – played games with the infant and the five-year old and the college students and high schoolers and grandparents and a little solitaire on a laptop, ate cookies and watched some TV and read some books, and talked and told stories, and ate more cookies. A great family holiday.
[Update: I changed the graphic at the top from New York’s skyline at dusk as seen from the Empire State Building last December to my brother making gravy Christmas day for the roasted lamb. Thanks, Michael.]