Christmas Eve

My digital advent calendar is just about finished:

A friend in Canada has sent me one of these each year recently, and I really enjoy them. This one is based on a European Christmas Market. There are lots of nice touches, such as if you look at the calendar at night, the scene changes to a night-time scene like this. But this screen shot was just before 7:00 this morning, when it was already bright and sunny outside in this hemisphere!

Later this morning I discovered that one of my dahlias is flowering:

This is "Marie Antoinette", who came with me from the old garden. Last year her first bud opened on the 1st day of summer. I don't know when this one opened, as I've been running around all over the place the last few days. This was a nice surprise, and there are lots more buds coming. No buds on the Mystic Star dahlias yet, though.

I hope you all enjoy the holiday tomorrow, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.