But, since $uniquedates returns a node set containing only three nodes, I can't figure out how to populate the new elements with all of its appropriate children, so I get this:

I know I'm missing something obvious here. Any sort of clue would be welcome.

Just replace:
<xsl:copy-of select="."/>
with:
<xsl:copy-of select="key('items',date)"/>

regards,
--
Joris Gillis (http://www.ticalc.org/cgi-bin/acct-view.cgi?userid=38041)
Veni, vidi, wiki (http://www.wikipedia.org)