Peace Reigns

There is nothing so soothing as the sound of multiple air purifiers humming away on high, as the family sleeps on, and I have the morning to myself. Ah, allergies.

Sadly, I have the post-Christmas blues this dark, cold morning, but happily, it has been a good holiday, full of fun, friendship, traditions, marshmallow fights and no family trauma drama. As Yukon Cornelius says, "Wahoo!"

The Great Marshmallow Fight of Christmas Eve 2006 will be long remembered. Marshmallow blow-guns being introduced on Christmas Eve 2005 by Dr. Eldritch incognito (see www.askdreldritch.com), our oldest son has taken to the pipe cutter like a fish to water, and rapidly produced nine blow-guns out of pvc pipe on Christmas Eve, and went on to gaily decorate them with festive holiday duct tape stripes. Gotta love that. Our great friends, who were innocently sharing a late breakfast and gingerbread house decorating, willingly joined in the fray, and mini-marshmallows flew with abandon, sticking to the floor, the soles of our shoes, and ricocheting off the walls. By the time Dr. Eldritch arrived this year, the marshmallow mess was nowhere to be seen, and he refrained from initiating a rematch.

Marshmallow goo is removable from linoleum via mop with hot water and grease-cutting cleaner, in case you want to try this in your home.

Santa Claus came by 6:45 Christmas morning, leaving chocolate oranges, Tinker Toys, penguins, photography books, murder-mystery manuals, dvds and art supplies. Much fun continues to be had with these items.

The day after Christmas marked my spouse and my twentieth anniversary of being in love/partnering for life/choosing to continue to tolerate our differences (depending on the day). We have spent our twenties, our thirties, and now are into our forties together. Who would have imagined that two immature twenty-two year olds could have got something so unlikely so right? I can't believe my luck. Knock wood we can celebrate another twenty when we're sixty-two.

In all likelihood, my malaise this morning is more to do with eating almost an entire box of chocolate orange sticks, rather than any mood swing uncontrolled by prescriptive drugs and a good night's sleep. Typically I'm more sensible. Don't know what got into me, other than those chocolates.

I'm looking forward to the New Year. And not looking forward to working today. I'd rather be on holiday.

On the laptop: How to Come Out with a Bang
On the easel: Azul
On the art table: drawing pencils, a sketch of a white kitty
On the night stand: The Perfect Paragon by M. C. Beaton
On tape: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
On my mind: The Daniel Smith Art catalogue, acrylic painting, oil painting, oil pastel, egg tempera, getting outside, daylight lamps, spending my mad money from my Mum