Io Saturnalia!
Dec. 26th, 2002 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
resonantI have only one bone to pick with the universe.
If I'm going to get rear-ended right before Christmas by a woman attempting to drive despite having a migraine ... and if I'm going to be pestered by two insurance companies and a body shop for a week ... and if I'm going to be forced to leave my beloved car at the body shop for an undetermined period even though it's perfectly driveable and only missing a taillight ... and if I'm then going to discover that all sorts of things that I have great need of are stored in said car (such as my gym bag, my kid's swimsuit, the book weight that allows me to read and eat at the same time, my only umbrella, the CDs I like best, etc.) ... then would it be too much to ask that the loaner car not smell like the bottom of an ashtray?
Aside from that I'm quite pleased by the holiday. (Though there was a little difficulty last night with undercooked Cornish hens having to be finished off in the microwave -- I don't remember my mother ever crying over poultry, but since it happens every year at our house, it will undoubtedly be part of the kidlet's holiday memories.) Three well-behaved inches of snow fell on the 24th, and I sang so much at the Christmas Eve service that I came home hoarse, and the kidlet has decided that the couch-sized dollhouse their grandparents gave them ought to go in their room and not in the living room, and I paid off my credit card with my severance settlement so I won't be getting an unpleasant surprise come January. I hope all of you had a holiday that was this much to your liking.
As for gifts, here's the rundown:
Chocolate items received: Two -- candy sampler from the spouse and schmancy British hot chocolate mix from parents. Plus Hershey kisses from Santa.
Unattractive sweaters received from spouse's parents: One for him (brown with horizontal stripes) and one for me (an eye-watering mix of magenta and purple which you just don't want to see on a size-20 frame). On the other hand, kidlet's pink-and-orange fuzzy sweater is perfectly adorable.
Gift which shows best evidence of ESP: A rather generous check from my parents, who understand that "I'm getting unemployment, so we're not really suffering" isn't the same thing as "I feel free to buy CDs and purple fuzzy gloves if I want them."
Books received, household: Four.
Books received, me personally: Not a one. But the spouse gave me a Barnes & Noble gift certificate.
Kidlet gifts made of pink and purple plastic: None, praise the lord.
Kidlet gifts that make loud electronic noises when you walk past them: Only two. And one of them is going to go away very soon, since they're already bored with it.
Kidlet gifts that have the potential to wreak very messy havoc: Two, including a toddler-sized potter's wheel. "Oh, they can use it in the bathtub, then," my brother says airily.
Didn't know I needed it until I had it: Red paisley shawl from India, courtesy of Dad. Bonus points to the company for including a card listing some words that came into English from India with the cloth trade, including "bandanna" and "calico."
Most surprisingly successful gift: Cat toy with two feathers at the end of a fishing-pole construction, bought so the cat wouldn't have the only empty stocking on Christmas morning. The only reason we put up a stocking for the cat was because we happened to have a fourth nail in the mantelpiece. And this gift kept the kidlet and the cat joyfully entertained for a literal hour today.
Gift that the receiver had better come and get soon before it disappears: Homemade cookies (chocolate chip and ladyfingers) for the Tech Goddess and her family.
Duck and cover: It will probably take us ten days to find someplace to put all kidlet's new toys. And their fourth birthday is in two weeks.
edited 2020 to retroactively correct the kidlet's gender pronouns
If I'm going to get rear-ended right before Christmas by a woman attempting to drive despite having a migraine ... and if I'm going to be pestered by two insurance companies and a body shop for a week ... and if I'm going to be forced to leave my beloved car at the body shop for an undetermined period even though it's perfectly driveable and only missing a taillight ... and if I'm then going to discover that all sorts of things that I have great need of are stored in said car (such as my gym bag, my kid's swimsuit, the book weight that allows me to read and eat at the same time, my only umbrella, the CDs I like best, etc.) ... then would it be too much to ask that the loaner car not smell like the bottom of an ashtray?
Aside from that I'm quite pleased by the holiday. (Though there was a little difficulty last night with undercooked Cornish hens having to be finished off in the microwave -- I don't remember my mother ever crying over poultry, but since it happens every year at our house, it will undoubtedly be part of the kidlet's holiday memories.) Three well-behaved inches of snow fell on the 24th, and I sang so much at the Christmas Eve service that I came home hoarse, and the kidlet has decided that the couch-sized dollhouse their grandparents gave them ought to go in their room and not in the living room, and I paid off my credit card with my severance settlement so I won't be getting an unpleasant surprise come January. I hope all of you had a holiday that was this much to your liking.
As for gifts, here's the rundown:
Chocolate items received: Two -- candy sampler from the spouse and schmancy British hot chocolate mix from parents. Plus Hershey kisses from Santa.
Unattractive sweaters received from spouse's parents: One for him (brown with horizontal stripes) and one for me (an eye-watering mix of magenta and purple which you just don't want to see on a size-20 frame). On the other hand, kidlet's pink-and-orange fuzzy sweater is perfectly adorable.
Gift which shows best evidence of ESP: A rather generous check from my parents, who understand that "I'm getting unemployment, so we're not really suffering" isn't the same thing as "I feel free to buy CDs and purple fuzzy gloves if I want them."
Books received, household: Four.
Books received, me personally: Not a one. But the spouse gave me a Barnes & Noble gift certificate.
Kidlet gifts made of pink and purple plastic: None, praise the lord.
Kidlet gifts that make loud electronic noises when you walk past them: Only two. And one of them is going to go away very soon, since they're already bored with it.
Kidlet gifts that have the potential to wreak very messy havoc: Two, including a toddler-sized potter's wheel. "Oh, they can use it in the bathtub, then," my brother says airily.
Didn't know I needed it until I had it: Red paisley shawl from India, courtesy of Dad. Bonus points to the company for including a card listing some words that came into English from India with the cloth trade, including "bandanna" and "calico."
Most surprisingly successful gift: Cat toy with two feathers at the end of a fishing-pole construction, bought so the cat wouldn't have the only empty stocking on Christmas morning. The only reason we put up a stocking for the cat was because we happened to have a fourth nail in the mantelpiece. And this gift kept the kidlet and the cat joyfully entertained for a literal hour today.
Gift that the receiver had better come and get soon before it disappears: Homemade cookies (chocolate chip and ladyfingers) for the Tech Goddess and her family.
Duck and cover: It will probably take us ten days to find someplace to put all kidlet's new toys. And their fourth birthday is in two weeks.
edited 2020 to retroactively correct the kidlet's gender pronouns
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(no subject)
Date: 12/26/02 01:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 12/28/02 12:07 pm (UTC)The noise to violent quotient was about 1-to-1 for all of his toys. Either it made noise OR it was somehow violent.
And there were three presents that fit BOTH categories. Oh joy!