Why yes, I am nuts; thank you for asking

In the last 24 hours I've made 4 double batches of gingerbread cookie dough, 5 lbs of royal icing and 5 lbs of flood icing (in a dozen different colors) and have assembled 8 gingerbread houses. Tomorrow night we'll roll out the cookie dough and cook the gingerbread cookies and on Wednesday C and 3 of his friends (ages 6-9) will destroy the dining room decorating everything. I've got a disposable plastic tablecloth on the dining room table and am planning to roll plastic out on the floor before we get started. In spite of how it sounds, I think it will be fun.

In other news, M took Max to the vet this afternoon to get the drain removed. The vet was fast and worked within the five minute grace period that Max permits and so the drain came out without anybody having to lose his fingers. The stitches will come out on January 2. For now, Max remains collar-less and therefore housebound. He is NOT happy about that. In fact, the better he feels, the less happy he is about being confined to the house. I don't see how this can have a happy ending but I'm too tired to think about it tonight.