...into a Worm-hole about two weeks ago

, after wading through fanfiction swamps for a couple of months before that. Is part of why I've been less- or non-communicative with friends here and elsewhere who might have expected some contact in that time. Soz!

Of course, an aggressive infection that led to a toe amputation, and the usual sort of fraught interactions with my family, haven't helped in that regard either.

Xmas wasn't bad in itself, again family issues aside. I think I got the kids their best presents, long-term:
- an abridged, illustrated copy of The Wizard of Oz and a Star Wars search-&-find book for my 6yo boy (with increasingly notable attention deficit issues)
- a copy of What to Do with a Problem for my 3yo boy (who is, I think, the overall most intelligent of the three, but generally the most introverted)
and
-a copy of Malala's Magic Pencil for my 3yo girl (the most precocious, extroverted, and verbal of the three)

I also got myself a nice copy of Frances Hodgeson Burnett's The Secret Garden to replace the one I read until it fell to shreds as a child. I've been doing a special storytime with my 3yo girl at night when trying to get her to go to sleep, and we've started reading a chapter each night, with voices!, of my book. :-) Between that and reading their own books with all three, the best gift is time together. (Of course, I'm writing that as the four of us are all sitting on the couch snuggled up together, each on their own tablet with the telly blaring an episode of Paw Patrol, so take with much salt...)