What the Hell Kind of Howard Johnson's Is This?

It's the kind where they have free wi-fi. Hooray!

Anna's asleep, Katie's watching movies on the other laptop. She got Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest for Christmas, so that should keep her busy for a while.

We had a really nice Christmas. I have scads of pictures, which I'll upload later. My mother-in-law made boeuf bourguignon for Christmas dinner.

Sometimes the kindest things people do for you are such quiet, offhand things that you almost feel that in being grateful, you're reading too much into the gesture. My mother-in-law made no fuss over it, just matter-of-factly served a dish she knows I associate with my mom, at a time when she knows I've been lonely and homesick (my sister-in-law reads regularly - largely her idea, I suspect). She said it sounded like a good recipe and everybody's tired of eating turkey all the time anyway. It was delicious, but the incredible thoughtfulness of the gesture was the sweetest part of all. Also a bit humbling. I should maybe do things like that for other people sometimes.

On the flip side, she politely declined to accept the frozen turkey I got from my coworker. So he may be sitting in my freezer for a while (the turkey, not the coworker).

Free wi-fi they may have, but the beds still appear to be made from recycled cardboard as required by Federal law. I'm tired enough not to mind. Goodnight everybody!