No bad weather here! We were totally fortunate - we've been having cold rain but it's remained warm enough that we got no ice. (I think it had to do with the position of a leftover warm front - it kept the moisture from getting to cold up high in the atmosphere - so no ice.)

I am really glad that it worked out that way and wish it had so for everyone.

Here's the first of the Bordello socks (one of the pictures on the disk I forgot at home yesterday):



You know? It's not my favorite yarn ever. It feels like it might be a bit too warm; the seacell seems to affect its breathability. Makes it feel almost a little like there's a fair amount of synthetic content in there.

I also pulled out the Whatsit amigurumi and started work on it again:



They don't look like much until they get finished. This one is going to get a pair of big ears - like lop rabbit ears - and I hope finishing the face will make it less stare-y.

A few things that make me think of Christmas:



Cookies. Pretty much the only time I do much baking is at Christmas, so cookies put me in the spirit (some of these are for the FFFFFfingerfood, some are for the Jesus' Birthday Party the end of this week).

I like to bake cookies but I seldom do it because I'm just one person and I cannot eat up a regular sized batch of cookies before they go stale (Freezing is a possibility but I tend to forget about things in the freezer).



My little tree. I've not been home as much this month to just sit and enjoy it - I seem to be busier than ever.



The mantel all decorated (I think, Kucki, you can see your snowman there at the far left side). And a couple of close-ups:



The nutcracker and snowman were party favors from various parties over the years (I seem to acquire a lot of my Christmas decorations that way). The mouse is a toy I made, and the Santa-in-a-bell-jar was bought at Target because I thought it looked kind of vintage and I liked it.



My Dalarna horse (which was part of my bridesmaid's gift when my brother and sister-in-law got married. One of the nicer bridesmaid's gifts I've seen). And the little elf bought in memory of the one my grandma had (and which was stolen by renters renting her house after her death and yes I am still bitter about that). And Olive, the Other Reindeer.


In a week, if all goes as planned, I will be sitting on a train, headed home for break. I'm ready. One thing (of the many) I like about the academic lifestyle are the generous vacations (which come, at least in my department, with no pressure to stay and work - if anything, there's pressure [at least from the older faculty to the younger] to take time OFF and relax). It's too bad more people don't get generous breaks at the holidays; I think people might be happier, on balance, if they had larger chunks of vacation time. (My sister in law works for the DEA and she ONLY got the Thursday of Thanksgiving off, which pretty much makes travel to family impossible. Now, maybe once you've worked there for a while you get some flex-time or vacation days you can ask for when you want them, but for fairly new employees, at least, it's a pretty grueling schedule).

I know I've complained about having to work on Columbus Day and Presidents' Day and all the other federal holidays, but now that I think about it, I'd rather have that time in one big chunk - like Christmas break - so I can decide whether to travel or to work on a big project or whatever, instead of getting little three-day weekends here and there. Because a three-day weekend, while it's nice, isn't really long enough to do much other than either get caught up at work or wind up wishing you had a four-day weekend.