Like many in the Northeast, we celebrated the holiday and then hunkered down for the impending storm. Luckily southeastern CT seemed to suffer more howling wind than actual snow accumulation, but since we found out that we had lost power back at our house in Stamford, it meant a longer visit than usual with family -- and LOTS of board games, puzzles, crafting and sketching to pass the time.

Our Christmas Eve routine generally involves going to 5 p.m. services at St. Patrick RCC super-early to ensure we all have seats. By about 4:30 the church is standing room only (read: a fire hazard). I pass the time by sketching, but over the years I've drawn most of the stuff I can see over the tops of people's heads -- so this time, my subject was some random architectural detailing -- and then people's heads.



While we spent much of the post-Christmas blizzard-holiday trying out the new games that had been gifted and unwrapped on Saturday, we also broke out the classics. Here, the family decided to play Monopoly, thinking it -- and the storm -- would last us quite a while. Surprisingly, the game ended in mere hours, barely giving me enough time to finish this sketch!