It was raining steadily in Jamaica Plain when I woke up this morning. While Hanna slept in, recovering from a long night of bad dreams and insomnia, I unboxed the gifts that had arrived in the mail. We’d left them packaged until this morning because Teazle (as you will see below) loves ribbon.

One of our neighbors had departed yesterday, leaving a small tree “gratis” out on the curb, which we rescued and put out on the back porch. We left it undecorated so Teazle wouldn’t electrocute herself.

Last night I made us tea and thumbprint cookies rolled in coconut and filled with wild blueberry jam. They turned out a bit on the toasty side, but that really only enhanced the coconut flavor.

Once Hanna had woken up and done yoga, we sat down for our eggnog au lait, corn honey muffins, and of course unwrapping of packages. Teazle helped.

Y’all are so generous! Epiphany packages and thank yous will be in the post before our Christmas vacation is finished, but in the meantime some thank you snapshots . . .

Who doesn’t need TARDIS (TARDII?) Christmas lights to adorn their houseplants?

. . . and Hanna’s face lit up when she unwrapped this adorable coloring book . . .

Having a mother-in-law continually working on spinning, dyeing, knitting, weaving projects means that Christmas is often full of new handmade things to keep us warm and our home beautiful.

My brother and sister-in-law sent, among other small goodies, this delightful tin ornament that we’ve hung on the knob of a kitchen cupboard, where it swings in the heat from the stove.

Art from my parents (right) and brother and sister-in-law (left) gave us an excuse to finally get out the stepladder and move our collection of stuffed creatures up atop the kitchen cupboards where Teazle cannot steal them for cat toys.

Yes, the rabbit print does — delightfully! — proclaim “fuck you.” And the print on the right is this whimsical Kliban.

Now there is a cake in the oven, Gerry is asleep on a kitchen chair, I have a glass of Merlot, and am off to find a broadcast of Handel’s Messiah or similar before settling in to finish a crocheting project or perhaps a bit of steampunk YA for the late afternoon.

This has been a photo post from Hanna, Anna, and the cats. Hope all is well with you and yours.