Finished? Unfinished? Who cares!

Today I made a mountain of shortbread biscuits (aka cookies!) as little stocking fillers, as this is the only mix I can make that rolls out easily - none of that rolling between sheets of non-stick paper nonsense for me - and holds its shape in the baking. They are a jumble of shapes, some Christmassy, some picked on a whim. The Andrex puppy and Hallowe'en cat are clearly unimpressed by the star and the angel. Suzy and I each ate a cat that had a broken tail, very sad. And deliciously short, and crumbly....

The cake decoration is never going to get finished, I know, as I have so much still to do, and so little time in which to do it, and have lost my way with it anyway through fretting so much about the cake crumbs looking like mouse droppings. So this year we are a having a less-is-more cake, which I suppose is more recession-friendly, although the bumpy and dinted icing will be horribly exposed.

The Lovely Son arrives tomorrow. The fridge is groaning, and his bed is made up, and that's probably enough preparation for now. However, I'm prepared to take bets on how soon after his arrival he remembers people he hasn't brought a present for, and the traditional last-minute panic will set in, with some bad language and frustration about the crowds and the queues in Borders. He can borrow the car; I shall sit on the sofa and listen to carols.