That's when those blue memories start calling

So when did the Holidays as such end for us? By one argument, Tuesday the 3rd, when I had my last work holiday for ... two weeks ... in observance of New Year's Day. By another, the last holiday thing we did? Hard to say. We did drive out to that house at Lake Victoria, to watch the light show. We were worried it might have ended already, with it being after New Year's already, but no, we made it to at least the penultimate night. We got the whole show to ourselves, too. We were worried we wouldn't even see that since the web site warned the last show was at 9:30, and we weren't going to get there until about 9:15. But apparently they meant the last show started around 9:30, so we got a full loop in.

Another end-of-season thing? bunny_hugger's parents visiting. Much of this was to see how our house was decorated and to see Sunshine and enjoy some time by the fire. Also, bunny_hugger's father brought the dolly we would need to lift the old washing machine out of the basement. This was every bit as exhausting as you'd expect and while I tried to get him to take a break after every step he also wanted to get done with it, which went fine for the first five steps or so and really fell apart the last three steps. He also had the idea that he could turn the washing machine on the landing at top of the stairs while moving it upstairs and getting it ready to leave by the side door, which was optimistic and wrong.

Still, we got it out and set up on the lawn extension out front. Also, I went and changed because lifting the washing machine from below got grease embedded in my pants and gloves. The gloves are these cheap $3 nothings that I can replace easily but I like my cargo pants and want to keep them until they fall apart. We had been told that if we set the dead appliance by the curb someone would be along to take it ``within the day''. This was not our experience. Someone was there within a half-hour to take it. I'm disappointed; I had figured I'd have a chance to take a picture of it sitting out alone waiting for its exit from our lives. (bunny_hugger found that, since the machine was built in December 1977, she had owned it more than half of its life.)

Well, the guy who came for it did not have a truck or SUV or something that could, you know, hold it. He had your ordinary four-door sedan, and a trunk full of clutter. We watched, fascinated, as he first lifted the thing up on the closed trunk, possibly getting a sense of its volume. Then taking plastic bins and blankets and other stuff out of a full trunk to stuff into the backseat. And then trying to hoist the washer up to wedge into the trunk. Astoundingly, he did this, in time, and tied three rubber tethers around the thing so it had some hope of staying in place. And drove off, very slowly, to what I dearly hope is a house in the neighborhood.

bunny_hugger's parents worried that he might have thought the washing machine worked. I said, it's a harvest gold washing machine sitting at the curb. They know it's not working. With my greasy pants and gloves going on the first of many trips through the new washer, we had lunch, Chinese take-out, and a too-short visit. And if that's not the end of the season it's a good close at least.

If that's delighted you with thoughts of the end of the holiday season have some more pictures of Christmas Day itself, please.

bunny_hugger opening a package from her panets, with that double-ribbon trick, and also decorated with some of the stamps her mother has and is happy to have gotten working all right.

The dog just knows there's all kinds of things between her and her bed. Well, nothing, really, we were good about keeping that clear, but she's still not crazy that I'm here.

And an envelope with the colored stamps. bunny_hugger's mother fretted that she couldn't get the stamps colored the way she wanted but, you can see, she has nothing to feel insecure about.

Cookies! We finally got to making and to decorating them and I only thought to take pictures when we were almost done.

We forgot to bring our own cookie cutters from home, so there's more repetitions of bells and camels and candy canes than usual, but that's fine too.

Even more camels and trees and reindeer. Also you can see how much glitter we put on things.

Trivia: The International Military Tribunal for the Far East was formally inaugurated by Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur on the 19th of January, 1946. No designation of who among Japanese war criminals would be tried was made public until the 11th of March. Source: Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, John W Dower.

Currently Reading: A History of The World's Airlines, R E G Davies.