Week 53 - Christmas and Home

First thing on the list for Christmas Eve morning was to get Auntie Margaret’s Christmas pudding steaming by 9:00. Check. Then it was just a matter of getting ready to be gone all day and watching the pudding. Clearly there was some knitting time in there. I was out the door shortly after noon to pick up Aunt Margaret for lunch. We went to the Crow’s Nest for belly clams (me) and lobster roll (AM) before heading the church. I was taking her to the children’s service at St. Luke’s – the church I grew up in where she still goes. I had hoped for all kinds of warm and fuzzy nostalgia but got nothing out of the service. Maybe I would have at the 11:00 p.m. service, which has all the mystery of night time with only candles while singing Silent Night and that kind of thing. Since I can’t see that in my Christmas plans anytime soon, I’ll just have to wonder. From there I dropped AM at my cousin’s and then headed to John’s mom’s for dinner. Normally I would have been at David and Ronnie’s but AM had called specifically to tell me it was off so I made other plans, only to find out it wasn’t off. Oh well. I was more than happy to be at John’s, enjoying a delicious meal cooked by Brian, John’s step dad, Christmas crackers (not the eating kind) and libations galore. I had to abstain from most of it but did enjoy sips of all but the aquavite (think Norwegian grain alcohol.) We had shrimp and squid curry, which was what John had requested. Hmmm….. From there I drove to Tracy’s to pick up Carolyn and then it was home to fill stockings. But Matt was still upstairs wrapping presents so it was a VERY late night. I guess that’s to be expected on Christmas Eve.

 

Aaron had set an alarm so we were up at 7:00 on Christmas. The stockings (3 – one from Carolyn and each of my sisters) were the usual hit. I got lots of fun stuff, as always. After all the stockings and gifts were opened, we had French toast for breakfast then started in on dinner prep. We had the roast in the oven on time and had some down time while that cooked. As usual, we had issues with the oven and it was cooking WAY too quickly. We ended up turning the oven off and it was just one degree off perfect when it was time to eat. Carolyn’s parents and her neighbor Jen joined us for dinner, which was at 4:00 because Ed and Helene had gone to the first matinee of Les Mis. As I suspected, once dinner was done and cleared up, there wasn’t a chance in hell that we were going to the movie, especially because I was leaving the next morning. It was a lovely Christmas.

Leaving so soon after Christmas meant that there was none of the usual shopping but that was clearly unacceptable. Carolyn and I got up early on Wednesday and were at Job Lot by 8:15. The store was deserted and, as usual, I nearly filled a cart. There was the usual leftover Christmas stuff but lots of other stuff too, including a few stocking stuffers for next year. We headed home so I could pack. I popped my suitcase (gotta love that function) and managed to fit absolutely everything, including the huge panetone from Deanne and yummy lunch in my carry on. Then it was off to the airport. My flights were uneventful but full, of course, with only minimal delays so I walked in my door just after 7:00. Considering it was the day after Christmas, it all went swimmingly. I let the cats out and unpacked. It felt good to be home and I was excited for six days at home before I had to go back to work. Time to make a list.

Despite being home in my own bed, I didn’t sleep well, mostly because Pie was outside all night in the frigid weather. Tot, my youngest cat, bullies Pie and so I actually gave thought to finding a new home for Pie, who would do better as an only cat. I couldn’t believe I was even thinking it but I was. Being awake since 4:00 left me energy free and I didn’t do much that day, never leaving the house. It was more of the same on Friday but I did run some errands in the afternoon. I did spend a chunk of time on the phone with my sisters, Auntie Margaret and a few others too. And shock of all shocks, there was lots of knitting going on. : )

Saturday was Christmas at Brenda and Michael’s so I got up early and made an apple pie. On the way there, I stopped at the market for ice cream to go with the pie and picked up a few groceries while I was there. We had a nice turkey dinner and then opened presents. Yes, they bought me presents! Now we hadn’t exchanged gifts for years, even when Norm and I still did Christmas with them, so I was unprepared for that. I had given Brenda a knitted ornament when I walked in but that’s it. I was completely blindsided so didn’t feel too bad. I did have Brenda try on the socks I was working on and promised them to her when they were done. Anyway, it was another fine Christmas and it was nice to see their new house.

 
Since I hadn’t accomplished much of anything since getting home and the knitters were coming to my house on Monday, I was a machine on Sunday. I got all my chores done and picked up the entire house. I do work better with a deadline and it helped that I’d had a few nights of good sleep in my own bed. It felt good to be ready to ring in the new year but where had break gone? My six days at home were two thirds gone and I’d accomplished NOTHING. Time for some resolutions maybe? Nah.