Hah! My mother, the TRUE wit of the family, captioned the photo with these:

"A very merry Catmas, to you!"
"It's be-kitten to look a lot like Christmas!"
"Meow-y Christmas!"

My Aunts Debbie and Brenda, my mom, and I went to Olbrich Gardens yesterday. It was so pretty! Mom kept intoning, "It's like a little summer in the middle of winter!" She and I can be optimistic to a fault.

Following one such statement, Brenda taunted offered from the backseat of the car,

*snort*
Middle of Winter.
Buck up, Ladies—today's the first day of winter!

That Brenda...she's always so helpful!

I took my digital camera along and snapped 110 pictures in about an hour...oh my. Last night I weeded through them, and found about 40 that turned out just charming. The rest were more of a, "I'm not paying for film so I can take pictures of strangers' feet!" statement.

My meager ability has a broad range, you see.

Below, are some of my favorites!

I've turned my cat into an internet addict. I'm not looking forward to judgement day.

And, if you can, yet again, ignore my cranky morning hairstyle, here is a picture of [my brother] Charlie's pretty Norwegian eyes.

I'm still resentful that Dad didn't see fit to share the pretty blue eye gene with me.
...
I got my "blue" eyes from my Mom...along with the screwed up half hazel one.
At least SHE knew how to share.
...
Maybe, just maybe, I'd be more of a red meat eater if he had.

Negative. Twenty. Degrees. Wind-chill.

Well, Wisconsin! You found your torture chamber! Wonderful! Just in time for Christmas!

Dad and I trudged off to church, my breath forming ice and shattering as gravity tossed it to the earth. The choir performed songs from Handel's Messiah this morning, and I swallowed my emotion as the high sopranos raised, "King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords!" from the engaged chorus.

I spent the afternoon scrapbooking with Mom. Nostalgia hung upon the air as we glanced through the photo albums of memories. We grimaced identically at images of our pre-weight-loss selves. We giggled at the silly grins captured forever on film.

After several hours of organization and artistic ability, we called it quits and reclined upon the living room furniture as the Green Bay Packer Game played out. I know that I dozed brokenly, the occasional referee whistle jolting the Sandman away. I was staring at the TV when I saw Jaguar Donovan Darius clothesline Robert Ferguson. It was ghastly. I moaned in commiseration at every replay. They carried him off of the field and Darius was ejected of course.

The Packers went on to lose the game.

Well...I know this hasn't been an overly exciting account...but coincidentally, t'was not an overly exciting day. And I was cold. And I was emotional. Yeah! So...there!