There seems to be an out of place fifth chair at the table, which is a bit odd for a family of four. I can understand them having more chairs to use when they have the older kids staying, but why leave them at the table when they are not staying. I thought perhaps the extra chair may have been put there because the gingerbread houses on the table were blocking the area where one of the kids might normally have sat, but why not just move that chair along instead of bringing an extra chair to the table.? Do the heavy table legs prevent the chair from moving easily. Just some thoughts.
Christmas Day pancakes was the last family meal served at that table, but it doesn't look like it, with all that stuff on there. Speaking personally, I have junk that lands on my table too, but when it is a family celebration/occasion I make an effort to clear the table and make it look attractive. I think the state of that table being cluttered, shows Patsy on Christmas Day morning, was overwhelmed with preparations for their upcoming trips and present wrapping, and couldn't manage to think about niceties like table presentation and family photographs. Just going now to Patsy's state of mind.
Another thought - why didn't she have the presents wrapped before Christmas? She knew it was going to be a busy time. Was she really still present wrapping as she says she was? John made that trip to the airport to load the presents on the plane. Why, if Patsy hadn't finished wrapping, and why were there still loads of bags seemingly everywhere in the hall and butler kitchen, packed with presents to take to the lake? See where it's easy to let the mind wander. Back to the table and the pineapple.
The tissue box makes me think Patsy wrote the note there, crying. I think it's feasible that she wrote the note with gloves on (to distort her handwriting and leave no prints) and that is why her prints aren't on the tea glass, as she moved it to the side to clear a space to write.
The last bit. I think Patsy knew JonBenet had eaten pineapple and cream when they came home, or at least she had prepared a bowl for her, and she had eaten some then went off to play, and then Burke came along with his tea and moved her bowl, leaving his prints on it. JonBenet didn't need to leave prints on the bowl if she used the spoon or her fingers for a couple of pieces. The spoon is not as massive as the Ramseys would like to make out, it fit comfortably in, without tipping out of a normal sized cereal bowl. It's hard to lap up cream from a teaspoon, or even a FORK!, as John seems to think the children would have used. He probably didn't know about the cream, I'll give him that. Kolar said
I speculate that Burke recognised the photo of the pineapple bowl because of course he had seen it, or he remembered it, but he had no reason to admit eating pineapple if he really didn't. He was told to say JonBenet went straight to bed asleep from the car, and so he was conflicted as to whether to say he knew she had pineapple that night. He felt loyalty to his parents to stick to what they had told him to say. He had tea. Patsy had no clue that the medical examiner would look at JonBenet's intestinal contents, it's not something I would imagine they look at if there is an obvious cause of death. By the time she and John found out LE knew about the pineapple, it was too late for them to change their sleeping story.