Sunday Afternoon Honey Tea

It’s a rainy Sunday afternoon. Let’s warm ourselves with a hot drink and chat about life.

Well. What a week.

It started out on Monday with the traditional Christmas Eve schedule: Krystal’s dad takes her and her sister out shopping for a present for her mom, while said mom and I go out for lunch and maybe a little shopping of our own.

Here’s Krystal, Sarah, and Dad our on their adventure:

It didn’t start out too auspiciously on my end; the first three places we tried were already closed! But eventually we found a place and I had a good Reuben sandwich.

That evening we drove around looking at Christmas lights, went to Applebee’s for supper, and then back to her folks’ for our family Christmas. We were given quite a few gifts, but this is my favorite picture of the evening:

Here we are breaking down cultural norms, as I’m the one overjoyed with new pots and pans, and Krystal can hardly wait to put that Dremel to use foamsmithing.

We went home, put on a Fireplace for Your Home DVD and had our own Christmas. I gave Krystal some things for her cosplay, and she gave me some Discworld-related gifts.

We opened our gifts from my family, and they were pretty neat, too. Books and ties and games and spices – oh my!

We slept in Christmas Morning, well, a little. I got up and listed to the Lessons and Carols service via the BBC, then we headed back to Krystal’s parents’ house for a family Grinchmas Pajama Party. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves:

Wednesday we spent recovering; I wore some of my new socks:

Thursday I baked gingerbread based on an 18th-century recipe:

Friday I finished my work in progress! My book about Mr. Tom Inches closer to completion as the text is out with my first readers and I work on cover design.

Saturday my car had an appointment with the mechanic for new tires, and oil change, and an inspection. Everything went smoothly!

Today I’m under the weather but managed to complete my 2018 reading challenge! Actually, I met my original goal a little while ago and kept increasing it until today as I doubt I’ll be able to finish another book by tomorrow night, what with how I’m feeling and all.

What have you been up to?