The two work days flew by with preparations for the Winter
Workshop in full force. I was writing, editing and formatting handouts a mile a
minute and that was a good thing. I brought all my presents to work on Tuesday
and had everything else ready to go. I didn’t have to leave for the airport
until 11:00 so had time Wednesday for final stuff, which felt like a luxury and
made for way less stress than leaving after work to save a vacation day or a
few dollars. I’m done with that!
I had a slight delay on my first flight, which cut into my
layover but I still made it. As in I got off the first flight, checked the
monitor for the gate, walked over and right into the line and was on the plane
within 2 minutes of getting to the gate. That worked. It was a very uneventful
arrival, which was a change, and I was shocked that my luggage made it too. No
travel drama. Merry Christmas to me!
Wednesday morning was the steaming of the pudding. Carolyn
had been baking/prepping for days so there wasn’t much else to do on that
front. Cornelia came over with cookies to decorate so she and I frosted and
adorned cookies while Carolyn puttered in the kitchen. It was fun and we got
them all done, with some prettier than others but they’d taste the same and
were destined for kids. All good. At 3:00, I jumped in the shower and headed to
Shelley’s for the Pinney family Christmas. She and Brian bought a huge house in
North Kingstown so it was great to get the tour and visit with family,
especially Auntie Margaret, of course. After a whirlwind few hours and our
traditional lasagna dinner, I headed to John’s parents’ house. They were still
eating when I arrived so I had some salad and enjoyed the calm after the storm.
We had a nice catch up and then I headed home to Carolyn’s to stuff stockings.
It was a lovely Christmas Eve.
Ginny was supposed to have stopped by on Christmas Eve to
exchange stockings with me but first delayed and then never showed. I had
Carolyn’s wonderful stocking to open Christmas morning though and then we had a
lovely breakfast of lemon blueberry bread pudding with sausage and bacon. Once
the roast was in the oven, we had some down time. Ginny came by and we
exchanged stockings, opening them in front of each other, which was new. Then
Carolyn and I went for a walk in just t-shirts because we could. It was 75 degrees
outside on Christmas! Very strange but nice too. Carolyn’s parents and Jen arrived
mid-afternoon so we all had a yummy Christmas dinner of prime rib, mashed
potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts with lemon tart for dessert. Deslish! In
the post dinner lull, I finished my last pair of Christmas socks, which would
be gifted to Sharyn the next day. Perfect.
Saturday was the Boxing Day Open House so we spent most of
the day prepping for that – grocery shopping, bringing up chairs, pulling out
serving pieces and doing the last cooking/food prep. You know, the regular
stuff. We had quite a few more people than usual, which made it even more fun,
and everyone had a good time. Even Ginny and Bob came! John had picked Sharyn
up on his way back from Ikea so it was up to me to drive her home. By the time
we got in the car, I had a sore throat. Not good. But it was good to visit with
Sharyn on the way home and for a few minutes at her house. I was exhausted when
I got home and started the Zicam immediately in hopes of nipping the cold in
the bud.
Sunday was my last day so I had made plans for lunch with
Auntie Margaret at The Crow’s Nest for belly clams. Unfortunately Bette was
working so that meant I spent 3 hours in the car – 45 minutes down and back to
pick her up and the same again to take her home. It was all worth it for the
food and company. John joined us too because who can resist seafood in RI? I
visited a bit when I dropped Auntie Margaret back home and then Carolyn and I
hit Job Lot later that afternoon. I have to assume the Zicam did its job
because all I had was a bit of congestion, which wasn’t keeping me down. I
spent that evening packing because I was heading home on Monday.
So, it was a whirlwind Christmas but worth it. There’s no
place like home at the holidays (sing it!) but I was looking forward almost as
much to six days at home. Now I could only hope for uneventful flights back.
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