07 DEC 25

Early enough to the eight o'clock service to find the least squeaky pew on the Epistle side... but they're all running about the same decibels that deep into the nave that morning... so just keep the first one we sit in...

Back home... Yali practicing his new balance board which Oxbear crafted out of a bamboo cutting board from Aldi and 3D-printed pieces... knocking back cranks from the salt grinder... “Yali...?”

...before Oxbear switches on “Home Alone” for lunch...

...then shortly later walks out the door to a “land preservation” meeting at the local (somewhat heretical... well fully heretical) Swedish church which he somehow got himself invited to...

...before he and Yali (hopped up on candy canes I didn't realize he had) zoom off to grab a fellow Scout for the Scouts-on-skates rollerskating holiday party in Chesterfield...

...as Puck throws himself out of his room for a quick McRib request (he's got months ahead with zero fast food so...) toss in a large Grinch McShaker dill pickle salted fries to split on the side...

It's getting colder again in a dark night... windchills in the teens... kids tucked into warm blankets... glowing lights in trees...