Speaking Of...

1. Christmas: The blog of Disney animation backgrounds that I mentioned a few Fridays ago posted a background from "Pluto's Christmas Tree" (1952), a short that I remember watching as a kid. The cartoon was silly but the scenes that showed Chip and Dale inside the decorated tree were just magical for me. Colors! Pine needles! Secret hiding places! I wanted to get into our Christmas tree like that. Seeing it now, it's still fabulous: (If you can stomach Pluto, you can watch the whole thing on YouTube here.)

2. Birthdays (well, we weren't speaking of them, but we are now): My sister-in-law's birthday is today! She is a rocket scientist and a gardener, has started taking piano lessons, and is crafty, too. Also, she married my brother. All of these things make her pretty cool.