It’s probably not the wine that will get me. It will be the cake. Even then it’s probably not the cake itself that will get me, it’s the eating it at 10:30 at night that will.

Apparently my alarm went off at the usual time this morning, but I don’t remember it at all. (I went to bed after 2 a.m. Long story.) Instead, she who must be obeyed mentioned at around 6:00 a.m. that our youngest had already risen and my response was something like “why is that my problem?” and then “Oh, Merry Christmas. Love you.”

Us not having been awakened meant that our youngest was pouting at the small pile of presents, none of which resembled a game for a Nintendo 3DS. Instead she found a print of the cover to indicate it was coming and some stocking stuffers (even though there were no stockings). Those included annoyingly cute masking tape, Pentone sticky notes, and a form of gateway drug, er, a Pilot Kakuno fountain pen set. Our oldest had the similar items, although she’d already received her Christmas present (long story involving the naughty list).

The stocking stuffers. Kakuno pen and ink sets, Pentone notes and annoyingly cute masking tape.

I showed them how to get the pens ready to use and showed them how to use them. I’m not sure how impressed they are, but I got Pilot pink ink for our youngest and purple in for your oldest. They seemed to like that.

The game arrived later in the day, and I had fun torturing our youngest by pointing out the package had my name on it, not hers. She pointed out I didn’t own a 3DS and I pointed I’d just use hers.

After that, I actually had to do some work. Well, eventually I did. I revised a couple lessons for next terms and then waited until the appropriate time to send them in.

I then had to balance my diet/lifestyle changes with “Chocolate, Mother! Chocolate!” and the knowledge there would eventually be cake.

For complicated reasons we ate late. Supper consisted of chicken, salad, lots of cheese and bread, a solid cheap Bordeaux, and a few steak fries.

After that, the girls all collaborated to decorate the cake and we finally sat down to eat it at 10:30 at night. It busted my usual low carb fare. It was also perfect so I ate more than I should have (but not as much I would have in the past).

Almost too cute to eat. Almost. (Our youngest insisted on the candles.)

Now I’m waiting for the carb sleep. I’ve lost 15.5 kilograms (about 34 pounds) in the past 138 days and have reached the weight I plan to maintain. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. Especially as there’s more chocolate and a lot more cake left.