Post-Christmas

The end of the week has been a blur, mostly due to a complete inability on my part to separate the activities of the home with that of the office. In short, my brain is worn to a frazzle.

Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday were an exercise in frustration. Trying to finish up the shopping and, at the same time, reviewing documents and emails and graphs and charts for the eager-beaver employees who won't be able to enjoy the holiday due to the fact that they were not really employees anymore but contractors (the haven of security for all those engineers who got laid off back in July) and so don't get any paid holidays; being pounded by bad weather and wondering whether it would even be possible to make the trip down to Aunt Susan's; driving around on the ice and snow and trying to avoid serious accidents.

Thursday and Friday were a wonderful diversion from the cares and worries that had been filling my mind. The roads were relatively clean for our trip. We had an excellent book-on-CD which make the miles pass quickly. Aunt Susan and Uncle Bob were, as always, hospitable and full of conversation. There was plenty of good food and lots of cousins to play with. We had a nice gift exchange, then sat around chatting and swapping stories, even got in a game of Scattergories. Intending to spend the night this time, we didn't have to worry about getting out on the road late at night on icy roads. We slept in Friday morning.

The roads were quite icy Friday, but we weren't in a hurry to leave so spent them morning relaxing, enjoying more food and excellent company. Cousin Cindy brought her girls over so our girls had a chance to play with them again; I helped Uncle Bob with a couple things at the office and in the shed. We finally left around four.

Got home in time to get cleaned up again, then headed out for Cheryl's birthday dinner. Afterward, we went back home to watch her open presents. Then, as we were all quite exhausted by this time, we went to bed.

Today - Saturday - was not as productive as I might've hoped, but the rain was falling rhythmically against the roof all night and that always makes us feel extra drowsy, so we slept in a long time. Then we took it easy all morning. Didn't actually "do" anything until afternoon, and that was not much more than going to the library to swap books, then going to the store to get some milk. Pretty boring.

But I like boring.

The girls were alternating between riding their scooters downstairs in the basement and playing Barbies up in their room; Adam was playing on his DS and plotting more Heroscape strategy; James was playing on his PSP (which he bought with his own money). I worked on the basement a bit, putting up a couple 4x8 walls. Cheryl caught up on her reading and research.

After dinner tonight we played a family game of "Saboteur", a fun little card game which was introduced to us by our game-obsessed friends at a Christmas part last weekend.

Looks like it will be an early bedtime tonight...

Merry Christmas!

Six-thirty in the morning, and Adam is making waffles for breakfast. Mary is "sorting" her presents. And I'm bleary-eyed after being woken by the cats, who were evidently starving to death and couldn't wait for daylight to have their vittles.

We're waiting to hear on the road conditions to decide whether to head south to Aunt Susan's or not. Last night coming out of the Christmas Eve service, it was nothing but ice all over the place. The temperatures aren't expected to get above twenty-five degrees (F) all day, so unless they're laying down some serious tractionary particulates, it'll be one long slide ride!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a safe and happy day!

Snowstorm

Ten inches of snow on the ground overnight, and nearly everything was shut down. The road budgets were cut this year due to numerous shortfalls, which led to a dearth of sanding trucks and plows, so the roads were uncleared. Only the tracks of the four-wheel drive trucks cut through. The kids didn't mind. School cancelled. I didn't mind. Couldn't make it out of the driveway to get to work. Still had to take part in some telecons. Oh, well.

The downside was, of course, that we couldn't attend the long-awaited potluck at our friends' house, the ones who organize the Game Night once a month. We tried. Took a little gambol downroad (after nearly getting stuck in our own neighborhood due to high snow and low van clearance) and found the primary roads in less-than-adequate condition, and the secondaries a total disaster. Returned home, called to make our apology, and then settled in to a nice little dinner followed by a game of Spiderman Monopoly.

Winter in Michigan. Just lovely.

Got a call from one of our friends back in Washington, bragging that they'd gotten twelve inches (we'd gotten only ten). At least we have lots of plows, even if we can't afford to run them. Out there, everything just shuts down.

We won't see the ground clear until March. All their snow will probably melt away by next weekend.

Snowstorm

We've had a huge of snow dumped on us over the last few days, but it really hasn't added up to much.

The roads are a mess, the ground is white, the kids are having fun with the sledding, and the wind is cold. I'm happy to be inside where it's warm.

We went to the church Christmas Craft Bazaar today. That's where the kids get to go to a whole bunch of different craft stations and make stuff, the parents get to wander around buying espressos or mochas and perusing the bake sale goodies, and a few of us hardy souls get up on the stage and play Christmas carols.

Adam played a pretty piano piece. James and I did a set of guitar songs (he's picked up the guitar fingering like nobody's business, and he'll be way past me in a year or two). Cheryl and Mary played a couple pieces. I was hoping we'd get the whole family doing the von Trapp thing, but Deb has this serious stage fright thing going on, so she bagged out. Eh, whatever. We all had a great time.

Then we ran over to the library, which is a fatal mistake for our family if there is any work to be done. Because the minute we get home, everyone goes off to read their huge stack of books, and the house becomes as silent as the grave. Got a lot of great readers here, with all kinds of various interests (Adam got a Latin book, James got comic books, the girls got Fairy books, I got Star Trek and James Thurber and Dave Barry books, and Cheryl got books-on-DVD from her current favorite series). The only way we got anyone back out of their secret reading places, was to announce it was time to put up the Christmas tree.

And even then, we had to break out the goodies we'd gotten at the bake sale. Fudge, chocolate-chip cookies, etc. So there were a bunch of folks sitting around here reading books and snacking. Probably not good for weight control. But, after all, we gotta fatten up for winter, right?

I'm still feeling pretty fat. Got down to within 5 pounds of my old weight from the summer, then had all those snacks today. Looks like I'll be fasting tomorrow!

Supposed to snow tomorrow, too. It'll be interesting getting to church. Good thing we're only five minutes away. It'd be easier if we lived someplace where the weather has fewer extremes, like Malibu, but we can't afford that kind of lifestyle. And I'd miss having real seasons (but you can bet I'd be at Yosemite nearly all the time!).

Well, back to the old grind. Got some more homework this weekend.

[p.s. Happy Birthday, Lora!]