The kittens are utterly lovely and go through several cycles a day of: sleep cutely, run around like crazy, play and fight cutely, eat and drink cutely and back to sleep cutely. They both seem very well settled and are sociable and affectionate, one more so than the other, but both like to seek out a nice warm human when getting sleepy. They have already got me well-trained and one in particular will point out to me clearly and firmly when litter or food provision is inadequate. They've just finished their morning crazies and are now dozing in unlikely places.

Yesterday we had a few people round for a not-particularly-Christmas not-very-party, making 5 adults and 8 children in the house. I had thought last week that I would have to shut the kittens in one room and maybe stay with them half the time. But they seem so confident and settled, I decided to just ask the kids not to go upstairs except to the loo, and arranged a laundry bin by the door so that the kittens could emerge from our bedroom when they wanted, but it would be slightly more difficult for anyone to get in. The kids were really good - at first all were a bit worried, on hearing the rules, that they wouldn't get to see the kittens at all, but the kittens came downstairs fairly early on, so everyone got a chance to see them.
I also made a rule of 'no picking up' and, again, the kids were very good. It was lovely to see some of the younger ones being so gentle and sensible. As a result, the kittens mixed in happily with the group and stayed with the kids. After a while, I allowed kids to go upstairs, but only to F's room. At one point there were 4 girls up there and one kitten. One of the other adults and I were wondering if they were OK, so I crept up the stairs and looked in - the girls were just sitting chatting (2 playing DS), and the kitten was lying there looking completely relaxed, with tummy exposed, whilst they stroked her and talked to her.
Since I'm still not really well, it was all a bit knackering by the end and I was kind of glad I'd put a definite chuckout time on the invitation (she said with lack of hostessy charm)! But it was a lovely afternoon. Originally I'd planned an all-day open house and would have done more festive preparations, organized a game, etc. But illness and kittens were good reasons to cut it down to a more basic get-together, and several people were unable to come anyway, inevitably at this time of year.

Other than that, F has been doing quite a bit of level making on LittleBigPlanet, playing with the kittens of course, reading her Dr Who comics and doing puzzles. My mum and uncle came on Wednesday and F opened her main present from my mum - a child-sized guitar. It's lovely, she's very pleased with it. J will teach her some chords over Christmas.
Tuesday I decided to do absolutely nothing as I felt rough and it seemed like I needed to really rest. It worked too, after 2 good nights' sleep and a whole day of rest I felt loads better. Can't often do it but it does work when you do.