Still Going
What a glorious, exhausting holiday.
What an absolute joy.
We opened our presents on Christmas Eve after a nice lobster tail dinner (the once-a-year fish market here really does a great job) and it was sparkly and fun and beautiful. Christmas Day my boyfriend's sons came and we opened more presents and had more fun, and then went to his family's for a delicious dinner (love that oyster dressing and broccoli casserole) and rollicking fun, including an endless boys-against-girls game of 90s Trivial Pursuit, which the girls won (of course
but left me feeling like I'd spent the entire decade in a coma, as those questions were bizarre and some of the worst and most obscure I'd ever heard.
Christmas night was more food, and the whole weekend with the boys a relaxed, laughing, fun time with Beatles Monopoly (I was the second one to lose everything and go out), Paul McCartney concert videos playing, nachos, shrimp platters, and motorized helicopters whizzing through the air in the living room (I love this), the cats getting into the catnip and making their own fun, and a pancake breakfast in which I got impatient with the never-ending bowl of batter and so finished it by making one gargantuan pancake which, happily, was eaten.
Monday -- yesterday -- we loaded up and went back to my family in NJ to have Christmas again, and it was wonderful. More food -- turkey, pot roast, stuffed shells, shrimp scampi, grilled salmon, all the accompaniments, my sister's astounding array of Christmas cookies (I wasn't kidding when I said she makes like 40 different kinds with dozens of each) and my brother and my sister's fiance had us laughing so hard we were gasping for air. My mom's smile is wonderful to see, my father sent us home with a fabulous cat tree for the hairy ones -- my god, they're going to love it as soon as we manage to get it out of the truck -- and the day couldn't have been better. It felt so good to be back in my parents' house, the place I grew up, going nuts with presents, pictures and laughter, hugs and kisses. Sounds sappy but I don't care. It's true. When we're all together at my parents' we are children again in the best possible way.
And now, I'm tired. And full of good feelings. All this time leading up to Christmas I really thought I'd want to go out on New Year's Eve in a killer dress and whoop it up -- well, for as much as I whoop, anyway -- with sparkle and glitter and dance the night away -- but now I'm not so sure. I am content. Plus, we have a -4 wind chill this morning and that doesn't encourage much in the way of outside adventuring.
Plus, my mother gave me a box of books. Plus I got some for Christmas. Plus I have some long-overdue phone calls to make to friends, and they should last a while. Plus I want to sit down and make my 2010 Goal List. Plus I have one more party to throw this weekend.
What a season.
What an absolute joy.
We opened our presents on Christmas Eve after a nice lobster tail dinner (the once-a-year fish market here really does a great job) and it was sparkly and fun and beautiful. Christmas Day my boyfriend's sons came and we opened more presents and had more fun, and then went to his family's for a delicious dinner (love that oyster dressing and broccoli casserole) and rollicking fun, including an endless boys-against-girls game of 90s Trivial Pursuit, which the girls won (of course
but left me feeling like I'd spent the entire decade in a coma, as those questions were bizarre and some of the worst and most obscure I'd ever heard. Christmas night was more food, and the whole weekend with the boys a relaxed, laughing, fun time with Beatles Monopoly (I was the second one to lose everything and go out), Paul McCartney concert videos playing, nachos, shrimp platters, and motorized helicopters whizzing through the air in the living room (I love this), the cats getting into the catnip and making their own fun, and a pancake breakfast in which I got impatient with the never-ending bowl of batter and so finished it by making one gargantuan pancake which, happily, was eaten.
Monday -- yesterday -- we loaded up and went back to my family in NJ to have Christmas again, and it was wonderful. More food -- turkey, pot roast, stuffed shells, shrimp scampi, grilled salmon, all the accompaniments, my sister's astounding array of Christmas cookies (I wasn't kidding when I said she makes like 40 different kinds with dozens of each) and my brother and my sister's fiance had us laughing so hard we were gasping for air. My mom's smile is wonderful to see, my father sent us home with a fabulous cat tree for the hairy ones -- my god, they're going to love it as soon as we manage to get it out of the truck -- and the day couldn't have been better. It felt so good to be back in my parents' house, the place I grew up, going nuts with presents, pictures and laughter, hugs and kisses. Sounds sappy but I don't care. It's true. When we're all together at my parents' we are children again in the best possible way.
And now, I'm tired. And full of good feelings. All this time leading up to Christmas I really thought I'd want to go out on New Year's Eve in a killer dress and whoop it up -- well, for as much as I whoop, anyway -- with sparkle and glitter and dance the night away -- but now I'm not so sure. I am content. Plus, we have a -4 wind chill this morning and that doesn't encourage much in the way of outside adventuring.
Plus, my mother gave me a box of books. Plus I got some for Christmas. Plus I have some long-overdue phone calls to make to friends, and they should last a while. Plus I want to sit down and make my 2010 Goal List. Plus I have one more party to throw this weekend.
What a season.
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