Today was a really good day. I was almost completely finished with Christmas preparations, so I wasn't panicking about anything, which was excellent for me for two days before Christmas.

Barb got into town last night, and came over about 11:00; we exchanged gifts--she gave me some really cool stuff, the coolest of which was a "Fanciful Flight," a metal sculpture/ornament called "Mystic:"

I've read many palms,
gazed into my ball.
With seven past lives
I have seen it all.

Yup.

She also brought the kitties presents: Kitty Guardian Angels, one for each of them. They adored them, and Pyewacket even let Barb balance one of them on her (Pye's) head.

Then we went out to a restaurant to meet our friend Jennifer, who we haven't seen for about fifteen years.

We got there early, and sat in the foyer, wondering if we would recognize her. Every time a dark-haired woman walked up to the door, we perked up, but each time, they walked on by without recognition. Once a tall, blonde woman walked by, and we looked at each other, then shook our heads. Nah.

Of course, when Jennifer actually walked in, we recognized her immediately She said we looked exactly the same, and she did, too. And we fell right back into the friendship, as if there had never been a break. Pretty amazing, really.

We had drinks, and appetizers, and lunch, and talked, and talked, and talked. For about three hours, I think, then she went off to do some stuff, and Barb and I went off to do some stuff, then Barb left to drive out to see her family for Christmas, and I wrapped presents.

Bob boiled shrimp for our dinner, and watched television, and I'm finished, with absolutely nothing to do tomorrow. Well, I do need to buy a gift for my father-in-law's dog, but after that, I'm completely done. Which means that I can sleep as long as I want to tomorrow, which also means that I'll probably wake up at 6:00 . . .

Bob tied the Christmas tree to the wall with eyebolts and fishing line in two places. When I got home on Saturday and plugged in the lights, I saw that the lower strand of fishing line had broken; I told him, and he got some new line and replaced it.

Then, when I got up this morning and came down to plug in the lights, I saw that the line was broken again, although we now realize it wasn't actually broken as much as chewed.

It seems apparent that Dinah sits on the lamp table and chews through the line. Fortunately, she can't reach the upper line, or, at least, hasn't figured out how yet.

Bob was sitting downstairs rigging a fishing pole once this spring, and Dinah was sitting at his feet. I told him he'd better be careful, because she was playing with the line, but he said, "Oh, she won't chew through it." She did, though, of course.

Bob came home this afternoon with more toys for them--little fur mice that they also adored. Dinah would throw hers up in the air, then jump to catch it, and soon invented a new game where she would throw it up in the air so that it landed in one of the gift bags full of gifts and tissue in the dining room.

Pyewacket brought hers to Bob to throw, and he would throw it down the hall and she would run and get it and bring it back. They're nothing if not entertaining.