Holiday Weekend at Home in San Marcos

Holiday weekend at home, and most of it went to getting the house into Christmas shape. The hot cocoa station is back on the counter — mugs, candy canes in the jar, the works — and I put the first one to use: whipped cream, red and green sprinkles, a candy cane hooked over the rim of the "baby it's cold outside" mug.

The white tree went up in the front window with the old glass ornaments, pears and bells and striped balls, plus the Octocat wedged into the branches where he always looks slightly out of place. After dark I walked out front to check it from the street, and with the string of red and green bulbs along the railing it reads properly from the sidewalk.

The dogs got new toys, a gingerbread man and a red dinosaur. The little one ended up standing on both of them.