25th December

Christmas, or whatever you want to call it, is a good excuse for a blow-out, food-wise. We ate. Then we ate some more. I even tried egg nog. And despite Amazon.com mucking up on the delivery of the presents for my parents and P, the Getty Museum shop saved the day (where P and I performed the "I won't look at what you're buying for me if you won't look at what I've got in my hands" dance that two last-minute shoppers are wont to do), and we had some semblance of our usual post-Christmas meal tearing of the wrapping paper.

Oh yes, the over-indulgence aspect of this winter solstice festival is one that we practice. It's always been an excuse for P and I to get some of the toys we both want, and to take a real day-off, where we do nothing but cook, eat and play. And for the first time in a whole month, I got the camera out, updated my blogs and generally faffed about all day. Even getting lunch ready was no chore as we played with our new breadmaker, baked the funniest looking ham I've ever done (crushed pineapple instead of pineapple rings makes your ham look like someone chundered on it even before the overeating began) and I showed off my BBQing skills. And giving chocolates to my folks was a fabby idea, cos we got samples of yummy Belgian chocs (from a shop round the corner). For today, we avoided the usual frustrations of living in LA, stayed in our neighbourhood, got two runs with our neighbour's dog, and played with a soap bubble that magically lasted for at least 5 minutes with careful flapping of arms. Batteries recharged. I only wish we could have days like this once a month.