It’s December 16 today, and I haven’t even begun my usual Xmas cookie baking marathon (= a tradition that I carry on mainly because I have always loved making and baking cookies/sweets, and also because it makes my students and friends so happy…)…sooo, yikes! I am way behind schedule. However, in my defense, lots of things have been going on…The following will give you an idea…

1. My in-laws are not doing very well. A lot has to do with depression, unfortunately. It’s a difficult time for the family…
2. On Sunday, our 10-year-old washing machine broke…smack in the middle of a rinse cycle…lovely…peachy…sweet (not). The technician told us it wasn’t worth repairing. We ordered a new machine (uffa, this is going to take an unexpected chunk out of our household budget…), but it won’t be delivered until next, get this!!!, next Thursday. Our pile of dirty laundry will be up to the ceiling by then…sigh!
3. My cold (see my December 9th post) finally turned into a not-so-bad-but-still-a-bit-annoying case of bronchitis. That came as no surprise, since my immune system is feisty, yes, but almost non-existent. This temporary setback didn’t stop me, however, from being as active, or almost as active!, as usual…going out, going to work and so on…and I am almost 100% fine now. So, no big deal, but I haven’t really felt like pulling out my rolling pin…
4. I have also had a lot of work in this period, which is good, of course…But it does keep me from doing research, testing new cookie recipes and whatnot… 😉

But hey, c’mon, Xmas is around the corner…and it has always been one of my favorite holidays. I have to admit that I am not in the festive mood quite yet…but I am getting there. One of my very BEST friends in the universe is going to be spending New Year’s Eve in Florence…So Stefano and I invited him and his family to stay with us. This will be so much fun! 

R and I have one of those rare friendships (I have actually written about him before…)…I mean, all we need to do is take one look at each other, and we start laughing until we are literally rolling on the floor in agony, begging the other to stop. Our spouses are used to it by now, but in the beginning they looked at us as though we had lost our minds…hehe. I don’t think I have ever laughed with anyone, not even with Stefano, the way I laugh with R…Sometimes for a reason, sometimes…just because…

Therefore, this is shaping up to being a “fun” holiday, in spite of, well, a few problems…

Speaking of fun, this is a photo I took yesterday of Piccolo, my 7-year-old boy, intently watching a video of Maru, the very entertaining Japanese cat whose many videos are posted on YouTube. Maru also his own website. Check out a few, as follows:

http://goo.gl/65Xb6 (=The one that Piccolo is watching in the photo…)

http://goo.gl/6jcpL (Just plain cute, with some funny, typical cat stuff…)

If you have never watched a Maru video before, have a look at the “box” one that made him famous: http://goo.gl/P8d1t