A few characters are late — and much welcome — arrivals to our tree. 

Hello Kitty, courtesy of my mom.

And this quite …curvaceous… penguin that I picked up at the craft store for like $2.50. 

While I was at the craft store, I overheard this woman complaining to her husband about Christmas cards. She apparently makes theirs and was picking up materials. I’m not sure what the husband said that set her off, but the woman ranted, “We always get photo cards from people. Yeah, I don’t care about your pictures. And THEN, there’s the stupid Christmas letters: ‘My kid got an ‘A’ in school,’ or whatever. Just once I want someone to say, ‘My kid is in jail.'” She caught me snickering and said, “Am I wrong?” Even if I hadn’t been totally speechless, no way was I going to argue with Sally Scrooge. I just smiled, nodded and thanked God that I wasn’t on her holiday mailing list.