Washday has arrived.

I really hope it doesn't explode again.

The washing machine, I mean.

Took me til nearly eleven o'clock last night to get it all put back together, and it turned out that the most difficult part was not installing the motor, as I had imagined, but putting the spring-loaded cable back onto the rubber seal which keeps the water from leaking through the front-loading door. Remounting the motor took all of two minutes. Remounting the front door seal took three and a half hours, four wasted trips to various hardware stores trying to locate a spring expander (no one had it; when it occurred to me to check an auto parts store, they were closed), and no end of frustration.

But it finally became a washing machine again, and we celebrated by ... doing laundry. At eleven o'clock at night. What fun and interesting people we are!

Then we wrapped James' presents and put them out where he could find them in the morning. And wrote a silly card.

Then, finally, at one o'clock a.m., we went to bed.

It was so hard to get up this morning.