apparently all it took was a few days away from my normal environment to turn me into a veritable craft and bake-a-thon. i built a wreath out of the leftover boughs from the tannenbaum (and even added a red fabric bow with stitches on the back to keep it from flopping apart). last night i even made a leek/potato/celery root soup from scratch. apparently it was a hit. lesson 1: step away from the computer while you can. lesson 2: have your family document your every move so you can blog about it later.