“And so this is Christmas…” Last night, we ate the goose. This morning we opened the presents and now everyone is off in their own little worlds with various prized possessions. My big present of the year was the Nokia N900, which I received early and have used extensively. I expect to write much more about it over the coming days. Part of my horoscope summed it up nice, “Even though it's Christmas Day, you can't help but look at your phone”.

Other big gifts for me included a book on cider making and a hydrometer. I’ll use this to get a sense at how strong the cider I’m making really is. It will be estimates for this year. Next year I’ll perhaps get a little more precise in my cider making log and calculations about the cider.

I also received a painting that Miranda did of me as well as a comfy hat. Pictures of these will go up online at some point, and may already be up on one of my daughters’ social media sites.

Kim is reading a book about Serenity, Mairead is reading a book in Spanish, Miranda is watching Bones on her laptop, and Fiona is playing in Gaia with her new Linux laptop. Barley and Reilly are doing their dog and cat sort of things, and didn’t really get into their Christmas presents, although there is one treat that Barley did really like.

Social Media provided interesting present ideas. Miranda, who has gone by the name Gingerbread Ferret online, received ginger bread ferrets, and a ferret shaped cookie cutter. Mairead who had gone by the name Dragon Moon years ago, regifted the jacket Kim had embroidered a dragon against a full moon on to Fiona, after adding some decorations of her own.

A few virtual friends have stopped by and wished our family a Merry Christmas. Thank you. To all my readers today, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. I’ll save the Happy New Year part till later when I get a chance to think about the year that is almost gone and the year that is coming.

Merry Christmas.