Merry and Bright

I have been going around for days with a Christmas song in my head:

Oh by gosh, by golly

It's time for mistletoe and holly...

OK. Not the whole song. Just that line, over and over.

Surprisingly, this has not annoyed the crap out of me yet.

It is about 7:30 on Christmas morning.

Right now I am making bacon to take for breakfast at my sister's house.

I am doing it in the oven according to a recipe I have for "sweet and spicy" bacon.

Then I will go to my sister's house. It will be me, her, her hubby, the 16-month-old baby, my aunt and her kids (at least two of the three) and my mom. I am not sure if my uncle is going or not.

We will eat breakfast. My sister is making French toast casserole using pane tonne. Nice.

We will open the gifts. Mostly meaning we will sit around and watch the kids open their gifts. Mostly meaning we will watch the baby rip open packages and then ignore the toys to play with the boxes.

I got the baby a couple small things. One of them is a book, one is a toy.

I also get to watch my sister open her birthday present. And since I don't think she will be looking here this morning, I can tell you that it is a digital picture frame.

I preloaded it with pictures of her baby, pictures of us as kids, pictures of my parents.

Her husband said it will make her cry, then it will make my mom cry, then it will make me cry.

He is probably right on all counts. Though I might cry before any of them.

After that gathering, I will come home and finish making twice-baked potatoes for the dinner at my aunt's house. I baked them once already and made the filling. I need to restuff them and then I will bake them the second time at my aunt's.

It's been a nice couple of days being off work and I am really looking forward to the next week of being off work. This is my REAL Christmas gift to myself. Just the chance to get my crap all in one pile before the year ends and to not feel rushed and pressured about it.

I hope everyone else has as nice a day as I will. I will be exactly where I want to be today, and I hope you get to do the same. And if not, I hope you at least get to be with people who can make your day a little merrier.

(That is me on the right in that picture. My sister is on the left. Circa... 1976?? Which would put me at about 5 and my sister about 8. I wish my mom had written dates on the back of photos.)

Christmas vacation, just like when I was a kid

Woo hoo! Today is my last day of work this year.
It feels like when you are a kid and you get time off school for the holidays.
We do a raffle at work to decide who has dibs on holiday weeks.
If you win you can take as much or little of that week as you want.
The number of tickets you get is based on how long you have worked here.
I had four tickets. That is the minimum number of tickets.
I spread them around last year and got nothing.
This year I put all my tickets on Christmas.
Which I won.
The only downside is that means next year I am not eligible for the raffle. That is just one of the rules.
Oh well.
But starting tonight at about 7:30, I will be off until Jan. 1.
I really don't mind working New Year's day. I don't have to be in until noon. Plus it is usually pretty quiet in the office.
My plan for the time off is to finish all those final kitchen details that got pushed and pushed and pushed back until now.
I also will have Christmas with the whole family, maybe make a couple nice dinners in there somewhere, relax, try to get in a little culture or fun ... maybe a museum.
It's pretty unstructured at this point and I am so looking forward to that.

The old cat

So I took Lucy to the vet today after many days of her sneezing and wheezing. She has a cold.
The best part was she sneezed and this big, slimy, green boog went flying out of her nose and landed on the vet's arm.
I said "Sorry, but I am really glad that didn't land on MY arm."
The vet said "I am really glad it didn't land on my FACE."
Nasty!

Wrapping it all up

Well, I managed to get all my adopt-a-family shopping done in one fell swoop.

And I managed to do it without calling anyone a dirty name or losing my patience.

And I think I did pretty good by 'em.

I got the boy (2 1/2 years old) three good toys, including a learning toy thing, a airport set and a wooden train set. He also gets the dinosaur pajamas and three outfits.

For the mom I got a couple sweaters, a perfume set and a soft, fleece robe.

I did all the shopping Sunday and wrapped it up and delivered it Monday.

It looks like a pretty decent haul, huh?

Now all I need to do is find a small gift for my nephew and I am done.

It really felt good to get all the gifts wrapped and delivered. I'm not sure it put me more in the holiday mood. I mean, I still have no inclination to make Christmas cookies (which is odd for me), but it did leave me with a very good feeling.

Oh and I got a gift for my sister's birthday, which is today.

I cannot say what it is yet because I probably won't see her until Christmas and she read this. So I don't want to give away the surprise. But it is pretty cool. I think she will love it.

That pretty much was my weekend. It was a good mix of chores and laziness.

Oh and I made dinner for the manfriend last night:

Napa cabbage slaw with a sweet, tangy sesame dressing

Mashed potatoes with a hint of wasabi and sour cream

Grilled pork tenderloin marinated in ponzu, honey, five spice, chili paste and sesame oil.

And yeah, I grilled it outside on the barbecue. It was pretty nice yesterday, so I figured what the heck, I will barbecue.

Another reason to love California: barbecue in December.

Season's Greetings

I really did plan on making and sending Christmas cards this year.

It just got by me.

Last year and the year before I made two styles of cards. One was fun and flirty and one was sedate and serene.

I think I made about 70 total. And yes, I have that many people on my card list.

This year I have managed to make one card.

Not style of card.

One actual card.

It's nice, huh?

I made it for the monthly stamping/eating group I am in. We all bring cards, we all bring a dish. We stamp, we eat.

The stamps are from Papertrey Ink's Take a Bough set.

It looks better up close because you can see the two shades of green on the leaves and sentiment.

I double stamped them in a light green and a dark green over it. The light green makes a shadow effect.

There also is some glittery stuff on the leaves that does not pick up in the photo. Oh well.

You get the idea.

I think that I should start now to make my cards for next year.

But then I figure I would just put them in a place where I would not be able to find them next year.

Or when I did find them I would think they were ugly. And by then it would be December and I would once again not have the time or inclination to make cards.

Maybe I should start at Halloween.

OK. I am out. Time to go to work.

Finally, my Friday.

Routine maintenance

Things have been quite busy at work and, of course, the chores never stop at home.
I had my house cleaned this past Monday and it was great. But there is still the daily maintenance to keep it looking so nice.
I am the type to come in the door, set my bag on the first horizontal surface, kick off my shoes and change into pajamas.
Which means there is usually stuff that must be put back where it belongs.
I also have the cats, which means a lot of sweeping and cat-hair hunting.
So far I am doing an OK job with the upkeep.
I want this to last at least until February. And at the rate days have been passing lately, the end of February will be here next week.

Ugly, inappropriate and just plain weird

That was the order for last night's event.

It was the annual ornament exchange my aunt organizes.

This is great fun and if you have a group of bawdy women friends who will get into the spirit of it, I highly recommend it.

It is a nice break to the madness of this season.

It started several years back as a way for a bunch of women to get together at a restaurant (that way none of us has to cook or clean up), have dinner, have a couple drinks and exchange a pretty ornament.

Somehow it evolved.

There is still the dinner.

There is still the drinking.

But the ornaments are no longer pretty.

The goal is to bring the ugliest, strangest or most inappropriate thing you can find.

The only caveat it that it must be an actual ornament.

It cannot just be some ugly knick knack with a hook on it.

Last year I got a 7-inch tall nun that is covered in glitter and holding a banner that read "Joy to the World." Only the ends of the banner look like sharp, torture-device type objects.

So the way it works is like a gift-exchange game. Everyone takes a number. The first person chooses a wrapped ornament and opens it.

The next person can either take that ornament or choose another wrapped ornament.

It continues that way.

If an ornament is taken, the person from whom it was taken can take from another person or choose another wrapped ornament.

The only rule is that an ornament can only be swiped twice, then it is out of play.

Last year was the first year I was able to participate since before that I always worked Monday nights. It was so much fun and I got to meet a lot of great people.

Even the waitress was getting into it and commenting on how much fun we were having.

So when I saw this snail ornament after Christmas last year, I went ahead and bought it thinking ahead to this year.

I bought it at Anthropologie for $3. Normal price had been $6. I saw one on eBay last night and they wanted $15. Crazy.

Everyone agreed that while it was not really inappropriate, it was borderline ugly and definitely odd.

My mom ended up taking the snail home.

I, after careful consideration, ended up with this crazy Santa/elf thing that my mom brought.

The box said it was a "Hand-painted Collectible."

He appears to be sitting, legs akimbo, holding something in his lap.
It looks like a plate of gingerbread men.

And, coming right out of the middle of his crotch area is a very springy spring with a gingerbread man attached to the end.

It is quite phallic and inappropriate. I knew I must have it.

My only dilemma was choosing between him and the Santa dressed in camouflage and carrying a hunting rifle.