I can’t remember the last time we did it… Was it pre-Covid? Probably.
The Secret Santa between my siblings and I and all of our significant others is officially on. My sister brought it up in a group text. I was going to but she beat me to it. We’re all in. My brother in law set up the app we use and it’s all like game on now.
I need to make an xmas list now. One that isn’t all guitar gear and laptops and cell phones.
There’s no denying it now. Tis the season and shit.
Good morning and welcome to December. Ugh. If I were looking on the bright side I’d say something like, one day closer to spring… but we haven’t even hit winter yet. December sucks.
Thanksgiving Part Two was a huge success. Dinner was fabulous, thanks to my wife. The xmas decorations are all up. I plugged in the lights on the outside of the house (that I never took down after last year) and a couple of short strands are out. I’ll have to figure out what to do about that. We had the annual Muppets Christmas Carol viewing. We did not manage to get a watch of Elf in, but maybe we save that for xmas eve?
Our kids are still here. They are both going back to Vermont today. One is going after breakfast, the other after dinner-ish. I love every second we can get with them here. I selfishly hate to see them leave but we are actually going to see them again next week. There’s something huge brewing in Bellana’s world and next weekend is when it hits. We’ll be there for it.
Until then, tomorrow I go back to work after a glorious five day weekend and I am sad about that. What can you do. I’ll be in the office which is making it feel worse, but oh well.
December is here. I put it off for as long as possible. Oh well, what can you do.
We had our Thanksgiving celebration today and it was excellent. Afterwards we started decorating for xmas. The kids are here and they are going back to Vermont tomorrow so it was either do it as a family today or Jen and I do it on our own later.
Right now, right at this very moment, we are celebrating another holiday tradition. We are watching The Muppets Christmas Carol as a family. Literally the only xmas movie I care about. Except for that Tiny Tim song… that scene can be skipped.
It’s not that I hate xmas, I don’t really. It’s just that I want it to wait. I want the xmas season to last about at most 4-5 days. Hell, I will be generous and let it last a whole week. What I hate is that it’s not even December yet and we’re being hammered over the head with all things xmas and there is no escape.
I give in to everything because I know how happy it makes my family. I am a scrooge surrounded by xmas lovers. We bought the tree today because the kids will be here this weekend before going back to Vermont and this weekend is the only time we’ll all be home to decorate. Seriously, if it were just up to me I would put up the tree on xmas eve.
So there are two things that I hate. One is the over-commercialization of the holiday that results in the xmas season starting before Halloween. The other thing I hate is xmas music. I was 11 years old when I played my first school xmas concert. I was 20 when I played my last one. That is enough xmas music for a lifetime, I think. It can all go away now, thank you very much.
Ugh… I guess I am just a scrooge for a while. Come December 22 or 23 or so, I will be in merry-xmas mode and loving it, but for now? On November 29th?
I am exaggerating a little.
A little.
It’s New Year’s Day. Is everyone having a nice holiday today? I hope so.
This is the day that we celebrate the new year by getting rid of all of the xmas decorations. It is the time for me to embrace my inner scrooge or my inner grinch and put an end to the season and put the house back to normal. Insert the sound of my sigh of relief here.
My initial plan was to wait for Harry to get out of bed at some point in the early afternoon and then Jen and Harry and I could just crank our way through all of the decorations together. It would take no time at all. Then when I finished my morning routine I decided to bring a couple of the boxes we store the decorations in upstairs with me and I’d pick off a few things on my own. Next thing I knew the tree was gone. Jen went from room to room and pulled most of the rest of the stuff out and stacked it on the dining room table. I took a break for some water and some meds and some real estate shopping TV show episodes and then brought a few more boxes upstairs and… next thing we knew, everything was gone. The house has been 100% de-xmased.
It is glorious.
I still need to move some furniture around in the living room, move a bunch of empty amazon shipping boxes to the cellar, put a new cat tree together, and then help Jen cook a super fancy dinner. That is a long to-do list, but it is fine because the decorations are done.
Again… glorious, said the grinchy scrooge.
We are home again. Another xmas gathering is in the books. We went to my in-laws and had dinner and swapped gifts. It was lovely and it brings the holiday to a close.
Tomorrow? Back to work. Not only that, but it’s an in the office day.
Crud.
The count down to New Years is on. We thought about New York (but not Times Square) but now we’re thinking of maybe taking a day next weekend and visiting Newport, RI. Newport is famous for gilded age, rich people houses but for me it’s more famous as the birthplace of Throwing Muses.
Will we do either of these things? Who knows. There are three more days until the next long weekend. As Traffic said on their amazing second album, who knows what tomorrow may bring?
Xmas Part Two: Nana and Papa’s house.
Santa Claus brought me a new Apple Watch for xmas yesterday. HoHoHolyShit, that’s cool! It’s a series 9. I’m not even sure what’s new with it. I have some research to do. It has an oxygen sensor, I think? Cool!
It took some doing to pair it with my iPhone. It failed twice before it worked, but now we’re up to speed. I haven’t had the battery up to 100% yet, but it’s getting there. I just did a 45 minute workout, the first with the new device. 45 minutes of jogging in place (pronounced yogging, with a soft “j”).
I got a bunch of really cool xmas gifts. Two members of my family heard me constantly bitching about how cold I feel now that I am down 200 pounds and got me heated blankets. You can bet your ass I am going to use the hell out of those. I also got a couple of cool Rush things. A magazine and a puzzle. There was a print of a photo of me and my mother dancing at the wedding. My mother is smiling from ear to ear. It’s perfect and I may have started crying a little when I saw it. I think my family members, my wife and my two step kids, might like me a little. I think they might keep me around.
Still to come is xmas celebration at Jen’s mother and step father’s house. That is still a few hours away, but I am looking forward to it. Any time we can get the kids over Nana and Papa’s house is a good time. It doesn’t happen often anymore, but it’s always great when it does.
HoHoHope your day after xmas is going well.
Santa Claus came, but we won’t be opening presents here until later tonight. The kids are at their dad’s this morning. They will come here about noon and we will all head to my sister’s for dinner and niece/nephew time. My father will be there too. I’m really looking forward to it.
After we get home we will do our family gifts. I’m also seriously looking forward to that, HoHoHo. Tomorrow we will go to Jen’s mom’s and do another dinner/gifts celebration. Yet another event I’m looking forward to.
It’s going to be a busy couple of days, but it’s going to include a ton of holiday/family stuff so it’s going to be great.
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. Everyone else? I hope you have an extra great couple of days.
HoHoHo
I wasn’t sure the weather was going to cooperate, but it did. There are xmas lights on the house now. HoHoHo.
Inside the Red Head's Head 