SANTAS EVERYWHERE!!!!!

You must know that tonight, in Madison, there may or may not be a larger concentration of Santas, Mantas, one elf and one enormous pink creature with a conical head than EVER BEFORE. Eli and I ventured out into snowy Madison for a bite and instantly encountered MORE Santas. They were pouring - and I mean cascading, careening, at top speeds - out of an otherwise unassuming pub. In fact, we may well even have walked past the pub without a second glance. But a twinge of white pompom trim caught our otherwise-dinner-focused eyes made us stop and THERE THEY WERE. There were like seventy, or more likely, seventy thousand. I just don't know. One was offering me a pre-dinner sweet. I knew not what to say.

In other words: We found headquarters. It was jarring, unearthing, and like nothing before. We are back in the safety of the University Inn but things are pretty serious out there. It has driven us to watch Home Improvement reruns, if that's saying anything. Yeah, I know.