Fa la la, the holidays were scrumptious because a) Kevin took Thursday and Friday off work, b) our friend Pio was in town and we got to see him in action, filming the Super Bowl commercial for Coke, c) we engaged in the Phelan family tradition of going out for pizza on Christmas Eve, then heading back to the Enderlins’ to watch Camille & Simone go at their presents (Santa always comes while we’re having pizza). Christmas Day involved Oscar banging around the house with his new stash of toys, all of which happen to be very, very noisy. The best present I got was an afternoon to go play with the adults; on Boxing Day Kevin took care of the boy, while I headed over to the Buckmaster/Best residence for brunch, where Craig alerted me to this fetching photo of Jim voguing on the sheepskin.

Now it’s all over and I have that morning-after feeling. Only, parental mornings-after are much different from those of yore, when I could settle in on the sofa with a good hangover, a pot of coffee, and a book. Now I’m up at six a.m. playing race-the-firetruck-down-the-hall, trying to convince Oscar to eat a banana.

Enough of that! Today, Ed takes issue with the new Amazon blogs, which I hadn’t heard of. Had you? And Galleycat talks about biographers, a revisiting of Sacco and Venzetti, and New Year’s Resolutions (send them yours).