Well here we are. Survivors of Christmas Day. And not as disastrous as I had anticipated. Maybe we got all our irritations out Christmas Eve. I felt like everyone was on edge - mostly driven by my Dad, I think. Peg & Grandma stopped by on the Eve on their way to the hotel. Didn't last long before Grandma had an asthma attack and needed bourbon. Then she insisted on taking a small cup of it with her, and I swear she was just using this attack as an excuse to get some bourbon. Between the time change and the already overload of sugar in my system, I had a helluva time falling asleep. Luckily Adam called and entertained me for a while. Apparently he got all certified to fall out of the kayak on Saturday. Hopefully the sharks aren't waiting for him.
Christmas morning brought a much longer sleep in than it did 20 years ago. After I had some coffee in hand, it was right to the lottery tickets, which are standard issue in our Ninja Turtle stockings. In fact, as soon as I walked into the kitchen, Mom goes "rub my head." So I did. Then she said, "I won six dollars!" Apparently the head-rub wasn't quite enough, because I only got a buck out of my strip of tickets. Peg and Grandma came back around ten for breakfast casserole, cinnamon buns & fruit. Then it was to the presents. The living room felt much smaller with two more people, even without the dog. The video camera was up and running, so that we can log one more tape in the Library of Videos That No One Will Ever Watch. Everyone made out pretty well, even if most clothing is way too big and will need to be exchanged. And it all went quicker than anticipated. Normally, this is where Drool Fest begins, where we all go our separate ways and read or watch TV or nap. But Grandma wanted to play cards. Peg indulged her, but the rest of us scattered. I snuck a nap in. Andrew started playing his new video game. Dad retreated to the back of the house too. By the time I was up, people were cooking again. We had quite an unusual spread for these simple midwestern folk. Andrew had a few things out on the grill, starting with some zucchini and moving on to bacon wrapped apricots with havarti & almonds. According to Andrew, as soon as he put the bacon apricots on, flames shot up and charred the hell out of everything before he could a) turn the heat off and b) pull everything off. So as tasty as they sounded (and as much work as Mom claimed they were), they were quite carcinogenic. Bummer. But the rest was delicious, including the blueberry martinis that all us girls got pretty buzzed from.
Everything wound down and I got to finish my book. Packers chalked up another victory against the Bears, then it was bedtime for everyone - mostly due to the alcohol & sugar crash we were all suffering.
This morning Mom and I talked sewing and I snagged a few quilting kits. Andrew cleaned the gutters, cuz he's a good kid. Mom and I went up into town so I could try to get a new back for a pair of earrings I got in high school. The girl at the diamond store gave me a hard time because I couldn't give her an account name that matched something in her computer. I tried explaining that my high school boyfriend bought them through his uncle that worked in the store close to 15 years ago. She also starting asking if I had someone else work on them, because they looked like they had been soldered and blah blah blah. Eventually she gave me the back - and a lecture about how next time I needed the account name because she couldn't just go giving out 14k gold earring backs and someone else there would have asked more questions and I probably wouldn't have gotten what I wanted. Well, shit, lady. Quit sucking at PR and just tell me I have to pay for a set of earring backs. Settle down.
Andrew and I went over to Adventure Rock, which is one of two climbing gyms in SE Wisconsin. It was packed. I didn't even bring my harness because I thought we'd have to go through the whole belay test, but they have these things they call "auto-belay" where you hook yourself onto a rope that tries to suck you up into the ceiling as you climb, and then lets you fall about 10 feet before catching you and semi-gently letting you down to the ground. More nerve wracking than having me belay you (just ask Adam). So we did some bouldering, then some auto-belaying, then some more bouldering. I climbed until my forearms couldn't actually grip anything, then chilled for a bit, and actually did some decent bouldering. I feel like the gym was really accessible to the masses, which is great for getting people out and moving, but not so great for those of us that don't like crowds.
Andrew has taken off to the Admirals game for the night, Dad is insisting I read some book about trending stocks & options in Excel and Mom is fully engrossed in Antiques Roadshow. Standard evening here in the Potter household.
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