THURSDAY THIRTEEN-- Good things about Christmas
It's not Thursday yet, on the other hand, Christmas is past, so that this TT is placed just about right.
Uh huh, yeah, there are so 13 things I like about Christmas. Here's a post-game round up:
1. No proscribed meal that I can figure out. Thanksgiving = Turkey. It. Must. Be. Turkey. Easter seems to be lamb or ham, I think. We can eat whatever on Christmas. I suppose Goose is the required meal? Not going to happen until goose is 99 cents at Stop and Shop. (that's the price of our Christmas turkey).
2. The items the kids put on the tree. Many are sweet homemade ornaments they made themselves years ago. Some are random. I think I saw a Magic Card held on with a paper clip.
3. David Sedaris's 6-8 Black Men plays in the background at some point during the holidays.
4. We don't go any where. We used to for years and years--decades--but now we stay put and squabble and do jigsaw puzzles.
5. My husband, who hates jigsaw puzzles, will do one with me. He curses and talks at the pieces and does most of the puzzle. And then, because I've figured out this is the fun part, I only order pictures of places--
6. He looks up the location on the interwebs. This year the puzzle was of Clovelly England, in Devon, only the puzzle is called Cloverly, so it took him a while to locate it on Google Earth.
7. Reading 5 and 6, I realize, shit, we sound old. A highlight of a fucking jigsaw puzzle? But that's because this is the only time of year we'll take the time to do something so useless and time-consuming And this is only the second year we've done it but it's a tradition as far as I'm concerned.
8. Eggnog with alcohol to cut the sweetness. Yum.
9. The fading guilt about Christmas cards. Allllllmost gone.
10. People call around now and it's good to hear from People. Uncle Andrew even sang to our answering machine. Now that's the Christmas Spirit.
11. The end of the whole build up is graceful and not so bad any more around here. Used to be squalls and sorrow but now there might be sulking ("I didn't want this. Do I Have to Thank them?") but no tears.
12. There is an end to it. I like things with beginning middles and ends. And the demarcations are clear with this one.
13. Vacation doesn't end right away so we have time to get the whole thing out of our system. It means that I won't have to work alone when I put away the ornaments. I'll force my kids to help. I hate doing that job by myself because I get all maudlin alone with the denuded tree.
Uh huh, yeah, there are so 13 things I like about Christmas. Here's a post-game round up:
1. No proscribed meal that I can figure out. Thanksgiving = Turkey. It. Must. Be. Turkey. Easter seems to be lamb or ham, I think. We can eat whatever on Christmas. I suppose Goose is the required meal? Not going to happen until goose is 99 cents at Stop and Shop. (that's the price of our Christmas turkey).
2. The items the kids put on the tree. Many are sweet homemade ornaments they made themselves years ago. Some are random. I think I saw a Magic Card held on with a paper clip.
3. David Sedaris's 6-8 Black Men plays in the background at some point during the holidays.
4. We don't go any where. We used to for years and years--decades--but now we stay put and squabble and do jigsaw puzzles.
5. My husband, who hates jigsaw puzzles, will do one with me. He curses and talks at the pieces and does most of the puzzle. And then, because I've figured out this is the fun part, I only order pictures of places--
6. He looks up the location on the interwebs. This year the puzzle was of Clovelly England, in Devon, only the puzzle is called Cloverly, so it took him a while to locate it on Google Earth.
7. Reading 5 and 6, I realize, shit, we sound old. A highlight of a fucking jigsaw puzzle? But that's because this is the only time of year we'll take the time to do something so useless and time-consuming And this is only the second year we've done it but it's a tradition as far as I'm concerned.
8. Eggnog with alcohol to cut the sweetness. Yum.
9. The fading guilt about Christmas cards. Allllllmost gone.
10. People call around now and it's good to hear from People. Uncle Andrew even sang to our answering machine. Now that's the Christmas Spirit.
11. The end of the whole build up is graceful and not so bad any more around here. Used to be squalls and sorrow but now there might be sulking ("I didn't want this. Do I Have to Thank them?") but no tears.
12. There is an end to it. I like things with beginning middles and ends. And the demarcations are clear with this one.
13. Vacation doesn't end right away so we have time to get the whole thing out of our system. It means that I won't have to work alone when I put away the ornaments. I'll force my kids to help. I hate doing that job by myself because I get all maudlin alone with the denuded tree.
Re: #1. We had Very Traditional Christmas Tacos at my mom's house. Used to have brunch, but we always go to the Uncle's house for a HEE-UGE dinner, and two big meals were too much. So now tacos for a light lunch, then gorging (turkey and prime rib and three kinds of potatoes, plus assorted other starches and desserts) at the Unk's.
ReplyDeleteI love the 6 to 8 black men story. One of my favorites. In fact, I ought to go put it on right now.
ReplyDeleteHappy TT. I also posted about Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI just never know when to take down the Christmas tree.
ReplyDeleteGreat post-- "No proscribed meal"-aaah but we Italians have our fish Christmas Eve!
ReplyDeleteWhat about Christmas movies? It's a Wonderful Life; Miracle on 34th Street; Mr. Magoo's A Christmas Carol; Scrooged; The Grinch; Santa Clause???
The classics!!
Tacos do seem very Christmassy kind of like a baby wrapped up so hey! baby Jesus!
ReplyDeleteSuisan, we have that book on tape and he does such a good job on that one, with the blind Michigan hunter, it always makes me laugh.
Sam, when you sit in a room and hear the pitter patter of rain and realize that it's not raining but that the tree is shedding needles? it's past time.
okay, got to go look at pussinboot's christmas habits.
Red mind? Is that Italian? I thought it was Scandinavian. I was fed a Christmas dinner by a Swedish woman and had never ever seen so many fish courses (or so many types of fish!) in my life. It was like she raided an aquarium. I loved it. My kids were decently polite about it.
If it makes you feel any younger, I think that sitting around doing puzzles with family and playing on Google Earth sounds ideal. Or maybe that just means I'm already an old lady at heart.
ReplyDeleteHee! Congratulations on coming up with 13 things you liked. :) I love #1 and #2, too. Nobody cares about Christmas dinner, so I make what I like, and I enjoy watching the kids bond over the tree... at least until they start fighting over it. LOL
ReplyDeleteSorry I was late stopping by. Hope your 2008 is fabulous!