After our not-quite-traditional Thanksgiving, I wanted a more-traditional Christmas. December turned out to be a very busy month at work and in graduate school, so I had to compromise. I only put up a Christmas tree the week before the holiday (maybe I’ll compensate by leaving it up until July 4th), and we decorated it with lights alone, leaving the ornaments in their boxes. The Christmas presents were placed in decorative bags instead of being wrapped with paper, or just distributed unwrapped.
Despite the earlier time pressures, we had a relaxing weekend, spent Christmas with family members, met some friends who came to town, and even got outside to enjoy some unseasonably warm weather.
I hope all of you had a great Christmas with your families.
P.S. The Grinch didn’t raid our house — this was after the presents were opened.
Planetary Defense Command 
Good for you for getting the tree up. I had to skip the tree this year. There was just too much stuff going on for me this December.
Yeah, I barely got it done. This should be my last December of research papers, though!
Hope you’ve got more free time next year!
Thanks, and same to you.
We had Italian food and Whiskey Highballs out here in Japan. We failed at getting KFC and cake.
Japanese KFC is so much better than US KFC, for some reason…
Gift bags have revolutionized my wrapping of presents paradigm 😀
That is to say, I can do it ALL in one night and with no scissor or tape. THAT is progress…
Looks like it’s time to buy stock in Christmas bag companies, and short sell wrapping paper and tape.
Bags are the wave of the future!
Amen to that!