rushrushrush!
Well, it's been a flurry of holiday activity here at peaberry central.
Understandably, I have a lot of family and friends desiring a bit of reassurance; to see me with their own eyes and touch me with their own fingers. Well, I want to see them and hug them, too, so as a result this holiday is pretty crammed with travel. (And many many 'Christmases'.)
Let's see. Last week we finally decorated our tree and it looks MAH-velous. We didn't measure it, we just bought it and wow, are we good! The tip of the tree misses the ceiling by about an inch (and we have a 10' ceiling downstairs. Wow!). It's a tallish thinnish tree, and I sorta favor Hershey's kiss-shaped trees, in the abstract, but once you get it set up and trimmed, pretty much any tree looks good - it's that Charlie Brown Christmas tree thing.
So, of course, now we're rushing away for weeks. :-/
We have thus far had presents at my folks' with my sister; at my grandma's; in a small ornament exchange at my aunt's (wherefrom we absconded - upon invitation - with half a dozen ornaments from her tree, which was decorated solely with white lights and three pounds of Belgian chocolate, individually wrapped in red cellophane. YUM!), and together at home. We'll have more when we hit G's folks for a visit in a couple of days.
We've had two tasty salmon dinners (for our two celebrations of Wigilia; which is the Polish Christmas Eve vigil and therefore supposed to be meatless although someone cheated and put bacon in the kapusta) and a clapped-together-at-the-last-minute feast at home which turned out extremely well - hurray for freezers and microwave defrosting!
Many cookies have been created, flickered away their brief tasty lives, and been demolished forever.
The cats have been left at my parents' in hopes that they won't go totally schizo while we're away, but the house is nevertheless being sat by a professional, which we need because there are plants (I never had plants before. I am *horrible* with plants. Only the stubbornest of plants can survive my black thumb, and it's not because I don't like them, it's because they don't like ME!) and also (minor detail) the furnace keeps blowing its pilot light out. Gee, WHY COULDN'T THAT HAVE WAITED UNTIL APRIL, HUH?
Like good little homeowners with crotchety old furnaces (this furnace has thus far lived to three times the average for its type, so I'm not exactly complaining that it's temperamental, but *damn*) we paid mumblety-hundred dollars to have it cleaned and serviced this fall and the damn thing hasn't worked right since. Goes out about once a week. Easy enough to relight, if you can stand on your head and spit fire (well, okay, use a firestick) - which G can - but you have to be HOME to do that, doncha? And so, now that we're going out of town with this little problem manifesting itself, the temperature in Chicago has plummeted. :-P
Well, the house sitter is conscientious and the furnace guy is (and rightly so!) giving us free tuning, since it's apparently his fault. *g* It seems likely we'll have to replace the furnace soon but I would *really* really REALLY like to wait until spring.
But *anyway*, many lovely Christmasy things have happened thus far. Even though I don't espouse the religion any more, I can appreciate some of the traditions around it; and I have a lot of good memories of Christmas. I hadn't seen some of my cousins in two years, and KABLAM! they have grown up! Not *one* of them is shorter than me any more (and I'm about 5'7" facryinoutloud). Good golly, I feel old. I'm just about twice the age of the youngest, who is 17. Much catching up and hugging happened, and fun was had by almost all. (My father is very disconcerted by some of his pierced and tattooed nieces and nephews. *g*)
Oh, yeah, and G had a rotten cold last week and I have managed to get it myself yesterday. Ugh. I just really hope I didn't give it to my grandma.
ANYhow, we're home today and tomorrow and flying off to see G's family and a bunch of our friends (*wavewave* see you soon! *huzzah!* etc.) in California on Friday. I'll be out of touch with the journal from then until Jan. 8, because despite heading for the technological hub of the known Universe, we are not going to be jacked in for the duration. Luckily (snrch) I have discovered Lois McMaster Bujold - and it's YOUR FAULT, you-know-who-you-are! -, the crack cocaine of sci-fi, and so expect to make it through this period of deprivation relatively scar-free as long as I don't run out of bookstores to throw money at.
And virtual hugs to as many of you as want 'em. Real ones to follow as quickly as possible, I hope; I, too, find reassurance in touching friends with my own fingers; in addition to through these multiple, handy, but not nearly as tactilely rewarding, interfaces.
See you next year! (if not sooner) :)
Understandably, I have a lot of family and friends desiring a bit of reassurance; to see me with their own eyes and touch me with their own fingers. Well, I want to see them and hug them, too, so as a result this holiday is pretty crammed with travel. (And many many 'Christmases'.)
Let's see. Last week we finally decorated our tree and it looks MAH-velous. We didn't measure it, we just bought it and wow, are we good! The tip of the tree misses the ceiling by about an inch (and we have a 10' ceiling downstairs. Wow!). It's a tallish thinnish tree, and I sorta favor Hershey's kiss-shaped trees, in the abstract, but once you get it set up and trimmed, pretty much any tree looks good - it's that Charlie Brown Christmas tree thing.
So, of course, now we're rushing away for weeks. :-/
We have thus far had presents at my folks' with my sister; at my grandma's; in a small ornament exchange at my aunt's (wherefrom we absconded - upon invitation - with half a dozen ornaments from her tree, which was decorated solely with white lights and three pounds of Belgian chocolate, individually wrapped in red cellophane. YUM!), and together at home. We'll have more when we hit G's folks for a visit in a couple of days.
We've had two tasty salmon dinners (for our two celebrations of Wigilia; which is the Polish Christmas Eve vigil and therefore supposed to be meatless although someone cheated and put bacon in the kapusta) and a clapped-together-at-the-last-minute feast at home which turned out extremely well - hurray for freezers and microwave defrosting!
Many cookies have been created, flickered away their brief tasty lives, and been demolished forever.
The cats have been left at my parents' in hopes that they won't go totally schizo while we're away, but the house is nevertheless being sat by a professional, which we need because there are plants (I never had plants before. I am *horrible* with plants. Only the stubbornest of plants can survive my black thumb, and it's not because I don't like them, it's because they don't like ME!) and also (minor detail) the furnace keeps blowing its pilot light out. Gee, WHY COULDN'T THAT HAVE WAITED UNTIL APRIL, HUH?
Like good little homeowners with crotchety old furnaces (this furnace has thus far lived to three times the average for its type, so I'm not exactly complaining that it's temperamental, but *damn*) we paid mumblety-hundred dollars to have it cleaned and serviced this fall and the damn thing hasn't worked right since. Goes out about once a week. Easy enough to relight, if you can stand on your head and spit fire (well, okay, use a firestick) - which G can - but you have to be HOME to do that, doncha? And so, now that we're going out of town with this little problem manifesting itself, the temperature in Chicago has plummeted. :-P
Well, the house sitter is conscientious and the furnace guy is (and rightly so!) giving us free tuning, since it's apparently his fault. *g* It seems likely we'll have to replace the furnace soon but I would *really* really REALLY like to wait until spring.
But *anyway*, many lovely Christmasy things have happened thus far. Even though I don't espouse the religion any more, I can appreciate some of the traditions around it; and I have a lot of good memories of Christmas. I hadn't seen some of my cousins in two years, and KABLAM! they have grown up! Not *one* of them is shorter than me any more (and I'm about 5'7" facryinoutloud). Good golly, I feel old. I'm just about twice the age of the youngest, who is 17. Much catching up and hugging happened, and fun was had by almost all. (My father is very disconcerted by some of his pierced and tattooed nieces and nephews. *g*)
Oh, yeah, and G had a rotten cold last week and I have managed to get it myself yesterday. Ugh. I just really hope I didn't give it to my grandma.
ANYhow, we're home today and tomorrow and flying off to see G's family and a bunch of our friends (*wavewave* see you soon! *huzzah!* etc.) in California on Friday. I'll be out of touch with the journal from then until Jan. 8, because despite heading for the technological hub of the known Universe, we are not going to be jacked in for the duration. Luckily (snrch) I have discovered Lois McMaster Bujold - and it's YOUR FAULT, you-know-who-you-are! -, the crack cocaine of sci-fi, and so expect to make it through this period of deprivation relatively scar-free as long as I don't run out of bookstores to throw money at.
And virtual hugs to as many of you as want 'em. Real ones to follow as quickly as possible, I hope; I, too, find reassurance in touching friends with my own fingers; in addition to through these multiple, handy, but not nearly as tactilely rewarding, interfaces.
See you next year! (if not sooner) :)