I ♥ Monday

♥ Mom’s chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chip aren’t my favorite overall, but hers are awesome and cake-like and I can’t even tell you how many I ate. My sisters and I were hovering around the kitchen like vultures while she baked them.

♥ Qwirkle. Sister A’s boyfriend (who is awesome and hilarious and basically a brother, since they’ve been together for 10+ years) gave sister S this game for Christmas. It’s like Rummikub only with colors and shapes, if that means anything to you. It was really fun, and we might need it for ourselves.

♥ Sherlock. We got the DVDs for Christmas and watched them all in a row and I love love love it. I am utterly smitten. I never thought I’d have a crush on a man named Benedict Cumberbatch, but there you go. Steve likes to annoy me by making up amusing variations on his name, the best being "Humperdink Cummerbund."

♥ my new pink fingerless gloves, knitted by my awesome CP Katie, and my pink scarf from Steve. They match my hair!

♥ the books I got for Christmas: Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, The Twin’s Daughter, Tell Me a Secret, & The Unidentified. I think I have some more on the way from the in-laws, too.

♥ my unexpectedly free week. The in-laws’ visit has been cancelled due to snow and possible flu on their part, and while I’m disappointed not to have a Christmas with them, it had become a big stressful production. Now I have loads of free time! Today’s been all about napping by the Christmas tree with the Monkey-cat, and now games and wine with Steve. Tomorrow is wedding-dress shopping with a friend, and now I don’t feel guilty about skipping out on the in-laws for lunch and cocktails with the girls. And on Wednesday, I might take myself to a double feature of The King’s Speech and Black Swan at our local indie movie theatre, with a brief hop over to B&N in-between. *insert happy sigh here*

What were some of your favorite gifts and holiday moments?