Happy holidays, y’all.

I’m at the parents’ house, preparing for the festivities. Jon and Barbara May and her family (John, Rose, and Barbara Jo) are all coming over tonight for Christmas Eve fun-ness.

I went out to Best Buy and the mall this morning to pick up some last-minute gifts. I thought someone already had something that I was getting the rest of as a present, but it turns out they didn’t, so I needed to go get it. Also, I decided to upgrade one of my mom’s presents from something amusing to something amusing that she would connect to more. Yeah, along those lines. The crowds weren’t terrible (of course, I did go at 8:30am) and the freeways were empty.

I made a pasta dish last night that was pretty okay. Penne with bacon and arugula. It ended up being super-vinegary, though, by no fault of my own. Or my mom’s, really. She was making marinated artichoke hearts, and even though she washed and dried the pot she used, some vinegar somehow remained in there. It was ultra-tart. The arugula was mega-tasty, as was the bacon (Nieman Ranch applewood smoked).

I still have presents to wrap and clue! Argh!