Today is the family’s official favorite holiday. Not tomorrow, when gifts are given, but today, when we spend time with family and friends.

This year is different. Some people are gone, and the day is going to start oddly off-kilter. But I’m making a concerted effort to bring some serious Christmas cheer to the ancestral estate. I’m bringing presents, cookies (Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup cookies and chocolate chip mint sugar cookies, a la Goose and Mama), and some bad dancing skillz when I get to my parents’ house later. Everyone better jump on this green and red train.

Merry Christmas Eve, people. Everyone, from those I know IRL to those I’m happy to have found here. In the words of Bill and Ted, be excellent to each other.