I am so late this morning! All that stuff I mentioned yesterday, about being the first person awake with lots of time to kill, turned out to be bunk. I overslept (because Tom and I were driving around all night picking up James in Hartford, Connecticut, and because this family currently has no fearsome little Christmas vampires forking everyone out of bed at ungodly hours), and then as soon as I got up James appeared (because he's on Chicago time and confused), so the morning quickly devolved into celebration, and I have only just now abstracted myself from the pack to take a shower and say hello to you.

It is so incredibly wonderful to have everyone here under the same roof. We are all giddy, I think. The boys keep hugging me, and I keep stopping to stare at them. Just listening to their banter-fights makes me all kinds of happy. The place is in an uproar, and it is magnificent.

I need to sign off quickly and go help my mother-in-law cook. But I'm sending love and joy to you.