I overheard someone at the office last week saying that they always go out the Friday after Thanksgiving and buy their Christmas tree, and my first thought was that it was really early, but on second thought, it's really just right on time, and I used to do that, too, but I'd forgotten.

I've gotten out of the habit of getting a tree early because of our winter vacations--I don't want to get one before we leave, of course, because of the cats, I guess, and also because of the added danger of fire with a large dead tree in the house, although I suppose if the lights aren't on, that doesn't carry much weight. Still, there doesn't seem to be much point to get it early when we're going to be gone for ten days in early December.

Of course, Dinah destroyed the artificial tree last year, so I asked Bob if he wanted to get another one yet, and he said he thought we ought to get a real tree this year at least, and maybe by next year she would be old enough that she wouldn't bother it.

At the other extreme, Bob's family doesn't put up their tree until Christmas Eve. I guess I'm somewhere in between.

But I figured it wouldn't hurt to decorate the website for Christmas early (or the Sim Jedi's house), since there's no danger of anything catching fire or the cat knocking it down.

We had a really nice day today; or yesterday, I guess, since it's a little after midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning--which means that it's my birthday!

Bob cooked the turkey and I peeled potatoes and he mashed them, and I made stuffing and he poured the wine, which I had two glasses of, then he put away the food while I took a nap, then I woke up and did the dishes. Pretty much a team effort. And there are lots of leftovers for turkey sandwiches, etc., the rest of the weekend.

Later . . . many hours later

I'm sitting at my desk eating microwaved leftover mashed potatoes and stuffing for breakfast. My birthday started off pretty nicely by Bob letting me sleep until I woke up, which was at 10:15. I'd woken up a couple of times before then, but just laid there until I went back to sleep again, which is a rare luxury.

Bob was going to go out and run some errands, so I jumped in the shower as soon as I got up, because my parents were going to come over at some point, and they said they would call first, so I didn't want to miss the call. About ten minutes after I got out of the shower, they called and asked if it was okay if they came over, so I sort of rushed around and picked up a few things, and got dressed, and put in a load of laundry, and then they were here.

They brought me a really cute set of Easter salt-and-pepper shakers--a duck and a rabbit--and a stone angel holding a bunny to put in the garden. My mother is doing great after her surgery Monday. She heals amazingly fast, much faster than I do. I know she takes a lot of vitamins, but I do, too. Maybe I should find out exactly which ones she takes . . .

Bob came home the other night with two DVDs for me--Jurassic Park and The Nightmare Before Christmas, which I already had since Mike had sent it to me as an early birthday present a couple of weeks ago. So I took it back, and got The Lost World, the Jurassic Park sequel.

Later . . .

I went out for awhile--to the bank to cash in my change (a coin collector wrote and gave me the news that there isn't just one version of each of those state quarters, but two, one each from two different mints. I've decided to ignore that.); to Kinko's to make photocopies of our electronic ticket confirmations, just in case; and to the post office to fill out a card to have our mail held, buy some stamps, and check the post office box. There was a box from Joanna with four books--an entire series of mysteries by Jeff Abbott, all of them about a small town librarian, Jordan Poteet, who apparently gets into all kinds of interesting predicaments.

And when I got home, there was a box from Barb with a little shelf-sitter cat working on a laptop (I put it on the bookcase in the dining room and when Bob got home he walked by it, then walked back and said, "How long have you had this?"), a book of Bedtime Stories for Cats (Kitty and the Beast, Katpunzel), and a magnetic Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas picture frame. And Bob brought me a rose and another gift--a big Yankee Candle jar ("Forest Glen").

We ate leftovers for dinner, and Nash Bridges is on in about an hour, and I get to sleep late again tomorrow. Couldn't ask for a better day.