December 25

It was Eric's birthday; I sent him congratulatory email, but we never managed to connect for a conversation. I'm not really surprised, given the hectic nature of the day for both of us.

I had a very pleasant day, though, overall. I slept well, and was awakened by David's saying calmly, "It's noon, in case you care about the time." I had time to shower and dress and eat and take medication and even make coffee, drink it, give each of the cats a generous dab of wet food, and write a note to my resident hermit.

David's mother had arrived in plenty of time. We took all the presents and the mince pie and the pumpkin pie (David's mother's contribution; she makes much better pies than I do) and the wine (Lydy's contribution) and the green beans with gingered walnuts and the cauliflower with garlic and oregano and pine nuts (my contribution) and got them all into the car, and ourselves too, and drove off to Eden Prairie. It was a fine sparkling day, though there was not a great plenty of snow to do the sparkling.

My mother's place has many windows and looks its best on a sunny day. She greeted us at the door, as she has done many a year, with the news that the turkey was already done. We might have had an earlier dinner and opened presents after, only Barbara and Mark weren't here yet, having been told we would eat at five. They were bringing the appetizers too.

We had much chatter and several attempts to persuade the cat to be sociable. Barbara and Mark arrived, with more presents, and a gorgeous array of appetizers. Three kinds of cheese, three kinds of crackers, goat cheese for me (it's not vegan, but it doesn't make me sick), corn chips, salsa, salmon spread. We managed pretty well at doing it justice without spoiling our dinners, I think. Well, I did, but it's no virtue in me, I just had less to choose from.

Then we opened presents, having the usual argument about whether people should just open as they are given stuff or whether they should wait until everything was handed out; and a subsidiary argument over whether we should go round in a circle and watch people open stuff or just open it. The latter won the first argument and the second argument too.

I wasn't able to get people as much as I'd have liked this year, but what I did give was tolerably well received. I am still stunned by my pile of loot. I shouldn't need any soap until sometime in August. And Lydy found a Portmeirion tablecloth for me. And there were many books.

Then David carved the turkey, having first handed me the camera. I did a creditable job of taking pictures of him, and of my mother, who was also in the very small kitchen, making the gravy.

We had the turkey, the stuffing, the two vegetable dishes, a jello salad my mother likes to make, mashed potatoes, rolls, olives and celery, and finally either pumpkin or mince pie or else cookies. I didn't have room for any pie, despite not having had turkey; so I ate cookies. I might have eaten as much in volume as the pie took up, but they were manageable pieces somehow.

Barbara took the turkey carcase apart with her bare hands, and my mother and I parcelled out the leftovers. I think David and Lydy and I must have absconded with somebody else's in addition to our own. They'll be eating turkey for days.

Then we had the requisite time of sitting around the fire and trying valiantly not to fall asleep. Abigail, the cat, was awake now and allowed people to play with her.

We left around eight. David dropped me off at Eric's so I could see to Toliman. He was, like Abigail, much more sociable at this hour, so we had much purring and a couple of romps with the toy on a stick. I was home by ten, in time to have a short conversation with David's mother before she went to bed. She had brought with her a cutting from a Toronto newspaper that David's aunt had sent her because it mentioned me. I had been much puzzled why a book review in a Toronto newspaper should mention me. It turned out to be a review of Clive Barker's ABARAT (I think that's right), which is set in Minnesota. The reviewer is Nalo Hopkinson, whom I have actually met. She wanted to make the point that Minnesota is a land of contrasts, so she mentioned that it has been home to both me and Neil Gaiman. While I expect she wanted somebody as unlike as Neil as possible, I was still delighted that she had thought of me at all -- I very much admire her work. And I may never again be mentioned in the same breath as Neil Gaiman, so I plan to enjoy it.

Raphael was pleasurably immersed in a project, but we did eventually have conversation and watch another episode of "Buffy."