Had a really nice Christmas with my family, hosted at my younger daughter’s. Much enjoyment was had by all…well, maybe not her two cats, Carrot and Orly, who took a lonnggggg time to warm up to the new people under their roof. Never mind they’ve seen us all before! They used to live with me and I fed them twice a day but alas, cat memories are short (in this case anyway). This is Carrot, in his kitchen lair, supervising my son-in-law while he cooked dinner for all of us.

If what I received had a theme, overall it would be dragons mostly. Anyone who receives a handmade red panda dragon from Russia must be said to have had a fabulous Christmas, yes? I LOVE him! (Thank you, DD2!) Although at times I was totally distracted by the box he came in,  dredging up the two years of Russian I had in long-ago college, amusing myself by trying to translate the postal warnings.

And here are my new iridescent dangly purple dragon earrings!

I also got a terrific Mulan T shirt with dragons, and a charming Mushu and Cricket. I decided they were going to live with my collection of Lena Liu princesses….

My grandson used to give me crocodile-themed gifts, due to my attachment to Sobek the Crocodile God in my novels, but now he seems to have shifted to cardinals. Last year it was a pillow and this year it was these singing birds. They remind me of “It’s A Small World”!

I also received some new plants for my balcony from B, my son-in-law, shown here with one of my collection of ancient Egyptian statues.King Tut’s not new but I like to show off my knickknacks when I can.

Speaking of which, I invariably buy something for myself while Christmas shopping for everyone, and this year was no exception. I have a THING for Roman centurions, so I couldn’t resist this guy shown at the end of the post. He now lives on my writing desk, along with a Pharaoh and an ancient Egyptian dancer.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!