Well, I am so late to the Saturday party, that you have already chimed in on Sunday, Bruce.
I couldn’t start without expressing condolences and outrage over Bondi shooting, Bruce. The circumstances and location make it particularly sad.
I always get a little cognitive dissonance when you remind us that Christmas coincides with your kids’ summer holidays 
. They definitely have the advantage of an extra month of playing with all of their Christmas largesse!
Yes, yes, quite biblical of you, right down your a pilgrimage to Big W. 
This morning I was still putting things back in order from the semi-unplanned soiree, and all the while this cormorant was soaking up the sun and facing the then-mild northerly breezes to dry off his feathers. He was frozen like that for almost an hour.
Yesterday’s high was 26ºC and tomorrow morning (Monday) it will be -1.67º. I worry about the cormorants and anhingas who don’t have completely waterproof feathers. I hope they fare well tonight and tomorrow.
And in anticipation of the coming arctic blast, my son and I spent yesterday afternoon wrapping the tropical plants in non-LED Christmas lights, which put out a decent amount of heat, and then covering them with plastic. The result is that I have all these ethereal and odd ghost looking blobs around the yard. This one covers a 12 foot travelers palm and the crab-looking shape is a palmetto, along with a sunpatien that is still hanging on. Not exactly the most festive-looking Christmas lights we’ve ever had, but like Rudolphs’ nose…is guess it…glows 
. 
Some of the luckier ones are camping out in the garage for the next two days. We tented part of the garage and hope that will do the trick:
Aside from unwrapping and moving all the plants, tomorrow is a frantic day of sterilizing the house (I know, it’s weird) and packing the van with Christmas presents, wedding attire, dogs, and whatever we need to make the fifteen hour, thousand mile trip (almost to the mile) to Kansas. Two adult children, three large dogs, one husband, and a partridge in a pear tree 
.
I should be back online before Christmas, so in the meantime, have a very nice week and stay warm or cool depending on whether you are standing right-sit-up on this planet or upside-down 
.
Cheers!
