It seems a little weird to say, but it’s a sad fact that to my recollection, I have never seen any production of The Nutcracker in person. I say it’s weird because I feel like usually it’s the kind of thing kids go to see on field trips before winter break. Either that or they have to get dressed up and then dragged along to an uncomfortable, too-formal brunch and the theatre on some Sunday afternoon on December. Probably because someone’s great aunt bought the tickets.

I did, admittedly, have a great aunt that liked to do that sort of thing, but maybe musicals weren’t her thing? Or, slightly more likely, it’s that dragging a posse of kids to see one wasn’t her ideal Sunday either.

At any rate, never having been to The Nutcracker, I was pretty stoked to see this pair of socks among my holiday collection. Not only do they fill the Nutcracksr shaped void left my soul from childhood, they’re also a bit irreverent and just the slightest touch creepy. Which is to say, they’re perfect for a winter Friday in mid-December.

I hope you had your own soul-filling moments of slight irrevence sometime today, and that your weekend is set for enjoyment. I mean that, no matter if you’ve got a Bloody Mary brunch and a trip to the theater on the books, or an awesome an to make your season super bright by just laying on the couch for a 48-hour Die Hard marathon.

Whatever your plan is, I fully expect you to crush it in every single way you possibly can. Just as long as you remember to, uh, try not to set the place on fire.

This evening seemed like a good time to get a picture of Day Number 345’s socks in front of one of the many Christmas trees making la casa de Puddin extra festive. And by “seemed like a good time” I mean that I was laying on the couch by the fire with my feet up, admiring the day’s pattern of colorful dots on navy and gray. Forcing myself to get up would, naturally, have been a travesty.

Also, today’s photo of my socks before the tree is, like, foreshadowing or something. And I’ll leave you to chew on that piece of vagueness for a few days.

Bwahahahaha!

I’m not going to lie, I’m running out of day-relevant socks. Or, at least, relevant things to say about whatever socks I picked to wear. But then again, it’s December 9th. Day 343 out of 365.

Zoinks! It’s almost the end of the year.

And with that said, I’m guessing you can see why I picked the socks I picked today.

Apparently NASA recorded the sound of wind on Mars this week with its be Insight rover, and SpaceX delivered a shipment of Christmas goodies — including candied yams — to the International Space Station this weekend. In my book, that’s enough space-centric news to be a good excuse for wearing a pair of constellation-oriented socks today.

Hope you’re having a great weekend, kids, filled with the sounds of other worlds and maybe even a holiday cookie or three!