Uncle. Aunt. Third cousin twice removed. Whatever relative you like.

The lussekatter, you will recall, eventually did rise. Hurrah. But my favorite music box is broken and the meringues won't mer, and I have given up. No meringues this year. I have made them a dozen times, and it always went better than this. I think the cream of tartar is old, and I will get new cream of tartar next year, and we will have meringues then. But this morning it is not Solstice, and it's not Christmas Eve, and I accept defeat. No meringues. Also no driving my dad mad with the music box when he comes to fetch me for our Christmas Eve outing. It will still be Christmas without those things. I know that. I'm still not pleased with them. I think I can be allowed to have a merry Christmas and not be merry about a few things in specific.

(Two notes: these are not just any meringues, so going out and buying me random bakery meringues absolutely will not help and will probably make me miserable instead. Also, I am an experienced baker and know what to try to fix things like meringues that won't mer, and none of it worked, and so now is not the time to poke your nose in suggesting that what I really ought to have done to make the meringues go was ______. Thanks.)

I mean, I could sing "Jingle Bells" in a really annoying nasal voice, and it would probably also drive my dad nuts, but it just wouldn't be the same. The point is not to drive my dad nuts at random. That's not how this goes. It's to pull the string on the music box. To no avail, and markgritter tried fixing it and did not manage it, in such a way that I think this music box has reached the end of its tinny, annoying, beloved lifespan.

Also I still can't lean on my left elbow without the pain shooting up my arm, and it was ten days ago that I had that fall, and sure, I've had others since, but not on that elbow. Bah.

Pretty soon my relentless good cheer and bloody-minded optimism will come flooding back to me. But now would be a good time to tell me a few of your favorite things.

Here, I'll start:
1. gaaldine's evil laugh in its tiny breathy evil juggernaut glory.
1a. When gaaldine is laughing evilly because she's being evil to the_overqual. That enhances the experience so much.
2. Godkids and niecelet, together again for the first time.
3. Icelandic Christmas goblin in the mail (thanks, A.!).