i just spent some time watching NORAD TRACKS SANTA.  if you click on it, you, too, can see santa as he makes his way across the world.  there are also many other things on this NORAD site, including a running tally of the number of presents he’s delivered, plus how many cookies has eaten.  the last time i checked, the number of cookies was 33,557.

here’s another awesome MUTTS comic.

last night randy had his BIG CHRISTMAS PARTY.  despite the ongoing work-related nightmare he has to deal with every day, he managed to throw yet another big big BIG party.  he decorated his tree without my help, even though i’ve helped him for quite a few years.  plus he has many, many beautiful decorations all over the house, including in his basement.  i must go over there and take a bunch of pictures and put them up so you can see for yourself.  it all looks so cool at night with the candle light, but maybe i should take the pictures during the day so you can see them better.

but here’s my question – how come people at parties always squeeze into the kitchen?  at first you might say that’s because that’s where the food is, but people weren’t really eating that much, they were mostly drinking.  maybe that’s it – that’s where the alcohol is.  but it’s not like people were constantly running around re-filling their drinks; randy has wine glasses about the size of soup tureens, and you can almost fit an entire bottle of wine into one glass.

he does have some decorations in his kitchen-dining room area, but it’s not dazzling like the living room and the basement.  there were only a few people in the living room all night, sitting on his really comfy sofas.  i sat in there sometimes when i wanted to sit down, and when i didn’t want to have to yell to be heard.

it must be something about human nature, that people like to be all squished up together.  maybe it’s that most people are very sociable.  or they don’t want to be where there aren’t very many people.  i guess that’s why i split my time between the crowded and the not-crowded rooms, although i think that the only reason i went into the dining room was to keep circling the table, as the VERY VERY BAD nighttime grace wanted to eat all the delicious sugar cookies that randy’s mom made, plus her delicious fudge plus the mounds of cheese etc etc etc.

i have to make some more xmas cookies now.

ok then,

mrs. christmas eve day grace.