We have the Christmas tradition of an elf that wakes up every night and does good deeds for the family. One busy night while we were in Seattle, it forgot to wake up. The next day Eden asked me why the elf didn’t do anything. I said I didn’t know and I asked her why she thought it didn’t. Her answer was:

Maybe the elf is just plane sick [jet lagged]. Or maybe the elf is homesick. Or, maybe the elf knows that it is going back to London soon and it is sad because it wants to stay here forever.

I answered, “That’s how Mama feels.”

Eden admitted, “Yeah, I think I feel a little like that too.”

Eden and Alden were trying to sleep, and Jasher was making it hard by screaming. I heard Eden singing him a lullaby. I think it was loosely based on the Beatles’ Blackbird, which I sing to her some nights. She said, “Blackbird singin’ all day. / Blackbird singin’ all night. / Blackbird please be quiet / because we’re trying to sleep.”

Yeah, that about sums it up. The pictures are in our online gallery.

The car next to mine in the parking garage caught fire. No one was nearby. Our cars had been parked there since 9 am, but the fire didn’t start until after lunch. The fire department thought that it could have been an electrical problem, but they didn’t really know. The arson dog came by so they could see if it smelled any chemicals. My car just got cosmetic damage on the side near the fire. I was able to drive it home. The car on the other side had more extensive damage. The car that caught fire was, obviously, a lost cause.