Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to everyone! Like all of my Medieval characters, I love the Christmas holy-days (all twelve of the holy days) for the magic, gratitude and generosity they represent. This year I won’t be giving one of my tunics to my most prominent servant as Rannulf would have done at Graistan keep. (Cloth and clothing was so expensive it was considered a great honor to wear your higher-up’s cast offs, especially if said higher-up was the king or your liege lord.) Nor do I have to provide presents for everyone in my family. Now that we’re at 23 members we all decided it’s too expensive. (Although some people insist on shipping chocolate–BAD people, bad, bad people!) So only the younger children, those not living outside their parents’ homes, get presents while those of us in Arizona participate in a gift exchange: 1 wrapped gift with a value of $50 and one ridiculously useless gift, the value of which might well be priceless. Take the leather rhino that I found in the basement here, complete with spider webs and absolutely beyond value as a gag gift. Almost as good as a box of empty pens or one used shoe with a holiday ribbon instead of a lace.