12:25 p.m. - 2008-12-30
I still need to buy a ham
I must be getting the sometimers disease - not the alzheimer's disease, since I don't forget all of the things, just some of the things. Badum - Ching! Like I forgot that I didn't post yesterday.
We are all home now. Saturday morning we got spouse off to his plane at 6 a.m. Saturday morning. My Dad came with me to the airport and then I came back and fell asleep on my parents couch next to my son and nephew. By the time everyone got up, we decided to go to breakfast at my favorite spot near my folks' house. Even my mother came!
But before I lose track, I want to remember the stuff we did before Christmas. Wednesday afternoon, my sister and I finished the grocery shopping and hit the mawl where we found her a fabulous half-priced Christmas tree and I even had a $20 off coupon! It was nice to spend time with her, and I found her a cool birthday present. Came home, got some stuff for dinner ready (we had Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, crab, my bro was bringing linguini with clam sauce, and three other shrimpy type hors d'oeuvres that we got at Costco. It was more than enough.
Andy, my father, and I went to church, and my brother and SIL met us there - it was perfect timing, and there were seats right by us. I found the service moving and joyful. The priest brought the carved baby Jesus for the creche and it just delighted me. Usually they don't do that until Midnight Mass.
After that, we headed home and got dinner going. It was a nice feast, and we had cookies and ice cream for dessert and played some board games.
My sister and her kids headed off to the motel, I was left with stocking stuffing duty and my SIL helped (and I had three more gifts to wrap) and we made the cheesy grits for Christmas morning and finished up. Spouse and I were at the motel by 11, and Andy slept at the motel w/my sister's kids.
We agreed to get to the house by 8:30, but everyone was up earlier, so we opened gifts. Andy was really excited by what he got including a remote controlled helicopter that my brother got for my niece and himself. We were buzzed most of the day. Spouse liked his "College" sweat shirt and date book, and the huge tub of cashews that I got him. My folks liked their gifts and everyone liked our family craft - the photo books of "Everything but the Wedding." I got a gift card to a craft store from my sister, a gift card to Nordstroms from my folks (which I quickly converted into yet another pair of black slacks!); a gift card to the place I get pedicures from spouse (as well as a ring holder to put my rings when I'm making meatballs!) and a miniature version of my family made out of cotton balls and toothpicks from my niece. The set even included our piggie! My brother and SIL got us (each) framed photos from the wedding, and a pewter bowl. Here's my only fly in the ointment, and maybe I'm just being too hard. I had asked Andy to make me a letter or a list of all the things me remembered from the past year - I asked him a week before we left so that he could give me a gift that didn't cost money. And he worked on it for about 4 minutes on Christmas eve. It was a list of four things. I'm hoping that we'll work on it together in the next week or so, but I don't know if it will happen, and I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing.
My mother invited over her friend and the friend's two grown sons. My sister, SIL and I worked like dogs to get everything ready for Christmas dinner. My sister and I are used to my mother's bossing, but my SIL isn't yet, and was a little put off. It was almost easier, because we KNEW that my mother wouldn't do anything, so we were able to work around her. When she is more mobile, she plans on doing things, but doesn't get around to it, so this worked out fine. Until.
My mother is on very potent pain killers since the surgery, and she wanted champagne, and my SIL asked if she should wait to have it, and my mother got angry, but held it in until the day after Christmas. Then she called my SIL into another room and "had a talk." My SIL doesn't take as much as my sister and I do, so I think it came out a draw, but I was so stressed out about it that I couldn't sleep. But I am out of sequence here.
Christmas dinner was tasty, but the sons hovered around the hors d'oeuvres (Home-made chicken wings, cheese and crudite) and then texted through dinner. These are men in their 40s. Texting. At. Christmas. Dinner.
Moving on.
Dinner was delish - roast beast, baked potatoes, green beans, broccoli, crescent rolls and grilled leg of lamb. My sister made two pies - cherry and pecan (which is her fave) and my mother had promised that she would have all the ingredients if we did the cooking, but she only had an inch of karo syrup in the bottle, so we had to scramble. My sister was really upset, but we moved on.
Christmas night after the clean-up, we played a card game called Scat which the kids love, and my mother won the game.
The Day after Christmas we went to a couple of craft stores and to Nordstroms (where I spent my gift card and had my pants hemmed) and then I got my Chik-fil-A fix for lunch. Came home, did some more cleaning up and played some more g ames. Andy and my nephew had a marathon monopoly game that went on for almost a whole day!
My niece and I played some silly games, and my sister, SIL and I got some girl-talk time.
Andy and my nephew had another sleepover. It was great to hear them talk and giggle. My nephew is 13.
Saturday morning, my Dad and I got spouse off to the airport, we did the breakfast thing, and my brother worked on refurbishing a laptop for Andy which was a real surprise! So Andy went home with a laptop. I think my other brother is giving us a wireless router and setting it up for us, so we'll be able to move about the house freely with our computers. WHEEEEE!
Saturday night I slept at my folks house and spouse made it safely to San Francisco and began the work interviews. My father, Andy and SIL and I went to church and were charmed by a baby girl and her four doting brothers. Came home, and my sister made Indian food - Chicken Tikka Masala, spinach, Naan, rice and galub jamun (think donut holes in syrup.) Very tasty. We played scat again with the kids and went to sleep around 11.
Sunday morning, up early, packed and on the way to the airport. I was able to upgrade (for $100) to first class and Andy was in heaven - he's always wanted to fly first class, and this was our chance. Made it to Massachusetts, picked up our car, stopped at the Trader Joe's on the way home to get some supplies for our New Year's party and then went for dinner with our neighbor to Cracker Barrel. Then we crashed.
Monday, Andy decided to come into work with me, so I worked until 2, had a Mexican lunch with my co-workers, and then worked at home. Andy and I did some grocery shopping, watched junky teevee and crashed again because we had to get up at 6 to pick up spouse from his red-eye from San Francisco.
And now, spouse is home safely, Andy is going to the movies with some friends, spouse is napping and I am at work. And...I got the car inspected - only 30 days late!
We're getting ready for snow tomorrow, and our New Year's Day annual party on Thursday. You can come if you want!!!
I am feeling guilty for not being more "there" for my mother. She made a comment in passing when we were playing cards that it used to be "You and me against the world" but that it wasn't now.
And for now, that's all I got.
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