Merry Christmas!

This is our tenth Christmas on Mars!

It’s been a busy year, and it’s been cold and rainy for weeks, so this year, cozy and quiet seemed like the way to go.

As always, we had many greetings from family and friends:

AJ exhibited much bravery by tackling the monster rosemary bush to make a wreath:

We put up our tree with all its finery, as usual:

Our stockings were stuffed:

We also hung our memorial stockings to Pickles, and the two mice who attempted to live with us years ago (we did not kill them; I just assume they’ve moved on to the Great Cheese Wheel in the sky by now):

On Christmas morning, we enjoyed our friend Brian’s delicious cherry-chocolate rugelach and some Irish raisin bread, and opened our presents.

Mother O’Brien sent Lorraine a lovely Christmas shirt and fuzzy blanket. She immediately fell asleep:

And stayed asleep:

Then moved to the couch and went back to sleep:

Then got up, amused herself with tearing up some cardboard boxes, and went back to sleep:

Thanks to Mother O’Brien, Lorraine officially wins the cozy award for the day.

While Lorraine slept, we watched movies, had a lovely picnic lunch of cheeses, meats, and olives, and AJ made delicious Indian food for dinner. It was a wonderful day.

We also were privileged to receive a visit from the most elusive of all magical Christmas animals, The Lorreindeer:

Merry Christmas from all of us here on Mars! And a very Happy New Year!