Whew! I just finished up with my holiday cards, and they’re ready to go in the mail. This was a task I was dreading a bit, as I had thirty-nine cards to go out, so it’s a real relief to be done with it! We’re also done with all our shopping (as I think I mentioned before, but I’m just so impressed with myself that I can’t help bringing it up again). Now all that’s left to do is relax and enjoy the rest of the season. To that end, Lydia and I will be making saffron buns when she gets home this afternoon, since it’s Lucia tomorrow. She has her Lucia dress and crown all ready to go, and she’s planning to bring us a tray of buns in the wee hours of the morning.

I cut Olof’s hair last night, and it looks pretty good (especially considering that I used a not-so-good pair of clippers and some dull scissors). It’s lucky that neither of us cares too much what our hair looks like, as long as it’s mostly presentable. That saves us a lot on hair-cutting fees, since I can cut all of our hair at home. I have to admit, though, that it’s hard not to get a bit self-conscious about my own ‘do, after the comments of a couple of people, including my own daughter — yesterday when I picked her up from fritids, she said, “can’t you make your hair grow longer and make yourself look better?” I laughed and asked her if she liked my hair better long. She said, “I don’t know — I just don’t want people to think you look strange.” I asked her if someone had said that I look strange, and she said, “no, but maybe they think it.”