The theme for the weekend was “things fall apart” with a soundtrack of Christmas carols in the background…

My workhorse camera and constant companion of many years finally quit without so much as two weeks notice. (Today’s photos courtesy of my phone). The 17-yr-old backup car I’ve been driving after finally giving up my old minivan (RIP) is shambling into retirement like a grumpy old man. (Heat? You want me to give you heat AND get you to where you want to go? WHAT? And the door has to open too? This generation is so damned spoiled!). Our oven has ceased to function. Even our dog, Tallis, has been causing us worry. We suspected renal failure, but after lots of expensive labs, it looks like he’s just an old man with constipation who needs to be on Metamucil and wear doggie Depends. For real.

Friday

My son had his piano recital.

We practically yanked him offstage mid-bow to race off across town to catch the last part of the Spanish Renaissance Christmas concert my husband was singing in…

Saturday

The forecasts were predicting snowfall from one to ten inches. We were ready to hunker down for a cozy snowbound day in pjs, but it turned out to be more like a dusting.

With no excuse to laze about at home, we ran around town doing all the usual weekend things like getting our cars Jiffy-Lubed, piano lessons, and shopping for a new oven…

At the end of the day we all converged from different parts of town in three different cars for dinner at Lime Leaf. My daughter reminded me that this was the restaurant where my friends held a surprise baby shower for me before she was born. Naturally, a commemorative photo was in order:

Back at home, my husband spent the rest of the night working on the final exam for one of his courses. Here’s an exam question for you: Were Shih Tzus bred to: a) keep the manufacturers of paper towels and Nature’s Miracle in business? b) be foot warmers for Chinese emperors and empresses? or c) both A & B

Hard at work warming the emperor’s feet.

(Tallis was probably being a captain of industry in the next room performing duty A).

Sunday

The latest addition to our menagerie…

Our new friend perches himself here all day and scolds us through the window for all of our many failings.

With a broken oven, our resident baker has had to explore no-bake options. This weekend’s delicious experiment was Tiramisu:

We capped off the weekend with an evening, candlelight Lessons and Carols service…

When our 17-yr-old wasn’t making us laugh, he was making us cry by reminding us that this would be the last Lessons and Carols service he would ever sing with us.