Our Christmas, 2006

Hello, all~

For Christmas this year, Ian and I gave each other a terrible, terrible cold. A knock-you-flat insomniac cold.

I personally believe I got the worst of it [she says in the manner of a wilting, sighing southern belle, with the back of her hand pressed pressed to her forehead]. First, Ian was sick all through the time I was working overtime and then trying to clean the house, and by December 21st I had contracted it.

Miraculously [or, thanks to a combination of the awesome recuperative powers of the Devil's Smoothie and my own propensity for overwork] I was well for one day, the day of our Second Annual Christmas Party, which was loads of fun. [All you who were not able to make it, make a mental note for next year; anyone who might come to town in last December next year should certainly keep us posted, as well.] We had Everything! Ian's masterful arrangements of fruit, cheese, and chocolate....coffee and cocoa....tree decorating....gift exchange....trace amounts of Peppermint Schnapps....a rousing round of The Game Of Real Life...and, to top it all off, a real live baby, provided by the occasion by Kelly-Shane and April. Gavin stole the show with his general unfussiness and willingness to be held by everyone and anyone.

So it was a lovely night and we stayed up together until nearly two AM. This last part was a hideous mistake, in afterthought, because, though I went to work the next morning at 10 am, I was almost delirious by the time I drove home at 3 pm. I'd taken the next day off of work so we could attend the morning Christmas Eve service at Montavilla, and go over to spend the night at Marisa's house, but I was too sick for both of those things [and anyone who knows me and my nomadic habits knows I'd have to be pretty miserable to feel that I'm better off at home]. So Ian drove me to work Christmas morning, and picked me up and brought me back to his mother's house, where stayed awake long enough to eat breakfast and open presents, and spent most of the rest of the day asleep in a chair. That evening we went home for Christmas Evening Together As a Couple, which consisted of me falling asleep on the couch while Ian cooked dinner, and falling asleep again afterward at about 8:30, and calling into work the next day. Like I said, it was a miserable cold!

It was definitely disappointing to miss certain special times. Melissa and Morgan had come to visit the West Coast with Grove, and we were all going to go to Saturday Market [where Melissa and I used to hang out on weekends in high school] for the Festival of The Last Minute, but I missed it. And on OPB Christmas Eve they have a tradition of a burning log, that we like to watch with Marisa, Ian's mother. It's like having a fireplace in your living room, and for some reason it elicits great excitement when a phantom hand appears, Monty Python and the Holy Grail-like, to put more wood on the fire or rearrange it with the poker. It was a bit ironic, too, because last year didn't go the way I had planned at all, and I later realized that my expectations were unrealistic with us both working full time throughout the holiday season. My mother has always either been homemaking or working a school job with holidays off, and the extra time makes a huge difference. So this year I had planned not to take any overtime after December 15th, and to wrap presents, decorate, put up the tree, make cookies, all that fun festive routine, only to have sickness pre-empt that.

However! There was improvement in several ways--for example, Ian got me presents this year! [Last year he didn't quite have Internet ordering figured out, and nothing ever arrived. And he thought the money was already gone from his account and therefore spent it all, so he couldn't re-order.] And we made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers [well, Ian made a Gingerbread Temple of Doom] with the kids--Emerald, Josiah, Lily, and Noah ; and the girls and I made an excursion to The Grotto's Festival of Lights, while Ian was sick. It was originally going

to be the four of us, but we had some fun girl-time bonding out of that.

We are also on the way to making the soundtrack to Amelie part of our Official Christmas Music [anyone else plan for music to hold memories of a certain time? I like to buy a new CD when something new happens in my life], crab is definitely our Official Christmas Dinner, and we hope to be on the path for local renown for our delightful Christmas Shindigs, and Marisa finished our 'wedding outfit scrap Christmas Stockings'--I'll get a picture to post at some point.

And we gave and received some wonderful gifts [doesn't it feel good to hit on the perfect gift for someone and then wait in anticipation?]. Among the fabulous gifts we received: I got another pendant from Deenie and Daniel, an undersea-looking one with a swirling amber background and some pale-green knobbles around the sides; a framed collection of photos of me growing up with our family, from my mother, and, believe it or not, a completely addictive series of graphic novels called Fables, from Jake. They are a modern-day continuation of the major fairy-tale characters we all grew up with, who have escaped their besieged Homelands and are living disguised in a secret enclave in New York. I still have a bit of my nerd heritage [Ian has a great deal more, and even trumpets it proudly, but is so charming that he carries it off] but I have never been interested in graphic novels--it sounds rather off-color, doesn't it? But this series is absolutely riveting. And seeing Melissa and Morgan again--and getting to meet Grove--was a major highlight.

So that was our Christmas. And if the Rocking Horse doesn't run away with the chocolate cake, when it ought to put it to sleep in the cat's cradle for the gold fish, (and if her mother sends me some pictures) I'll tell you next how Lindsay's baby shower went!

In the meantime, this entry needs another picture! Here's me when I was 12. Or 13. Doesn't it give one hope?