Hey there! I've got a little time before going again, so let me try to sum up the Christmas experience before moving on to more recent events.

Started by going to Maine for a few days. It was like Thanksgiving, but moreso. How, do you ask?

More shopping. Sarah's mom is just getting over surgery (she's fine, thanks), and didn't have a chance to go shopping for presents until late. So we had a little day trip to Bangor, hit the mall, Wal Mart, Borders, you name it. We even managed to wrap up our shopping, getting those last bits that always seem to elude you until the 23rd or so.

More food. I think I've mentioned in the past the role food plays in Sarah's family. Vacations are made or broken on food, and holiday celebrations aren't successful without good food. We had that in spades, considering that Sarah's mom can't cook for fewer than 15 people (it's her job as well, so it's a nice mating of the personal and professional). We had ham and capon (a castrato rooster), plenty of sides, the whole thing.

But what put things over the top food-wise were two British additions. One was chocolate. And not the stuff you get here. Let's just say I have a new found admiration for the products of the Cadbury's company. Unlike American filled chocolates, which tend to include fillings like quince, maple, and okra, they stick to the basics: chocolate, caramel, and nuts. There are some fruit fillings, but they're few and far between (and usually things that make sense, like strawberry).

The other Leftpondian addition is the sausage roll. Very basic idea: sausage meat in a roll, either of puff pastry or (what we had) a biscuit-type covering. I'm not sure how these haven't caught on here, given that it combines meat and bread in a tasty and portable way. If they can serve walleye on a stick at the Minnesota state fair, sausage rolls have a niche here, certainly.

More allergic reaction to cats. We spent more time at home while in Maine. No day trips, and the weather was kind of gross (it poured Christmas eve). That meant spending more time in the house with Sarah's sister's cat. I'm fine with their family cat, who spends a lot of time outdoors and when indoors pretty much confines himself to one spot on the floor. It's the other cat, the young, spastic cat, that gives me problems. I think I took twice as much Benadryl this time for a similar length of stay. Which took care of the problem, but made me a litle dopey. And the cat clawed a shirt of mine! I was not sorry to see the cat go.

After Maine we headed to my sister's in New Hampshire for the day after, where we ate more ham (I think I had more pig-related food that week than in the previous year) and watched six kids open about 30 presents in 34 seconds. No reading the tag, barely even time to register what the gift was in most cases. Just rip, pass along, and rip again. It's a little disconcerting, and it makes me wonder why I don't just buy them all generic games or something. They'd get as much notice as what we did buy in most cases.

If I learned anything at all this holiday season, it's that if you ask for specific items for Christmas, you're bound to get them. My decade long run of "nothing" or "clothes or something" came to a screeching halt this year. Top gifts include the full run of The Prisoner and the first season of The Simpsons on DVD, and two things I didn't ask for: a George Foreman grill (family size!) and a framed copy of where my family name comes from and our coat of arms. Very cool, a gift that Sarah started to compile when we were at Epcot in September.

We're about ready to use one of the gifts I got Sarah, so more later!