2000:  Visions of Sugarplums
2001:  ...and So It's Over
2002:  All I Want for Christmas
2003:  It's Not the Holidays Until...
2004:  Silent Night
2005:  And To All a Good Night

IN MY OPINION
"A Christmas Carol"

Books Read in 2006
(Updated 12/8
"Tender at the Bone")

Currently Reading: 
"The Cat Who Could Read Backwards"
"Dog is My Co-Pilot"

ALL IS CALM ... ALL IS BRIGHT

26 December 2006

Yeah right.  In this house?  I don't think so.  This entry may be written in pieces and this piece is being written at 8:30 on Christmas morning.  I have already screamed several times and told Walt to go away and leave me alone.  He is off at Mass, presumably praying for the repose of my soul.

The reason?  I was making pumpkin pie.  I will state, unashamedly, that I make a great pie crust.  It's my favorite thing to do and I've done it for years.  But today when I went to roll it out, it would not roll.  It kept breaking into pieces and I couldn't patch it and I was so frustrated that I screamed.

Walt ran downstairs to see what Lizzie had done and I told him my problem.  He was trying to be so understanding and so solicitous, but I didn't need understanding and solicitous right then, so I screamed at him to just go away and leave me alone and I haven't seen him since.

I stuck the bad crust in the freezer (I can always use it for little sugar pies) and made another crust, which rolled out perfectly.  Whew.  I got all the pumpkin ingredients together, and then before I mixed it, went to the bathroom.  I opened the can of pumpkin, put it in the bowl, went to reach for the sugar and discovered that Lizzie had eaten away part of the pie crust.

I would have been more angry if I didn't have the "bad" crust in the freezer that I could use to patch it with, and the hour in the oven will bake off any "dog germs" that may remain after wiping down the sections that had been "Lizzie'd."

But I'm seriously considering not baking the turkey and serving roast dog instead.

11:30 p.m.   I am so exhausted I can barely move and everybody is making fun of me because I am sitting here writing a journal entry instead of sleeping...but once an obsessive, always an obsessive.

The day got better. It's all such a blur I can't remember now, but the kids spent most of the day at [usual place] getting ready for their gathering tonight — they always meet a group of friends [usual place] after dinner on Christmas night and they [usual activity] until the wee small hours of the morning. (I'm being particularly obtuse because they are getting older and I never know who reads this and something tells me it's best not to be specific).

While they were gone, my mother and I got the table set and got the turkey in the oven and most of the dinner fixings fixed.  Tom and Laurel arrived early and we sat around having munchies and visiting until the others arrived, when things went on in earnest, with serious eating, talking and laughing.

Laurel bonded with Sheila.

Actually, the dogs, including the puppies, were surprisingly good all evening, even with adding Ned and Marta's dog, BooBoo into the mix.

Dinner was a great success, even with all the disasters that had befallen it.

And after dinner we opened gifts.  The biggest hit, though, was an Easy Bake Oven that Laurel had received at Ned's Christmas party a few days ago.  Watching Marta, Jeri and Laurel, oblivious to the gift giving going on around them, bake a minuscule cake in that toy oven you would have thought they were all 10 years old again

I told them they made me think of the 3 witches in MacBeth!

I found the perfect calendar for Ned...and then 3 gifts later discovered that Walt's sister had given it to me too. 

It was also an iPod Christmas for both Walt and me, so we are going to be spending the next few days learning our new toys (mine is video!)

Tom and Laurel pretty much express how we all felt by the time the pumpkin pie was consumed (I decided not to tell the story of how it had been made!)

Ned and Marta went off to [the usual place]; I'm not sure if Tom and Laurel joined them or not.  Jeri and Phil, bless them, stayed to clean up the kitchen, for which they have earned so many stars on their crown(s) in heaven, I don't even know where to begin counting.

The puppies were last fed just before we sat down to eat dinner and I'm praying that they stay asleep until a decent hour in the morning so I have a fighting chance of feeling halfway human when morning rolls around.

I guess that age and weight take their toll and these dinners don't come as easy as they used to, though my mother still does it at 87, so I have a long way to go before I can use age as an excuse for feeling as totally depleted as I feel right now.

But, with all the ups and downs, this was really a lovely Christmas and best of all, having all the kids at home made it extra special.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

In a week and a day, he will need this book.

|

<--previous |  next -->

Journal home | bio | cast | archive | links | awards |  Flickr | Bev's Home Page