12.23.10 - Decorating the tree

Today, Julie, Ellen and I finally decorated our Christmas tree.  It had been in the living room, with Christmas lights, for weeks, but we had waited for Ellen to get in town to decorate it and then never quite gotten around to it.  So together we put up all the old ornaments—many we’ve had since I was a child in Folsom.  It was nostalgic and fun.  The boys eventually came upstairs and hung out with us while we did it.  We forgot garland, but I did remember tinsel, which I think makes a big difference.

One of my favorite ornaments. We've had this since I was a kid in Folsom.

Sarah came over and gave me my Christmas gift of chocolates and a dessert wine, which we both enjoyed while watching the pilot episode of Eureka.  It was okay.  She also gave me a charm she picked up in Japan.  It’s supposed to give good luck with money, so I’ll let you know how that works out.  After Mom got home I worked out while we all watched more Firefly.  That show is great in general, but it was particularly enjoyable watching it with people who have never seen it.

Later in the evening the other siblings went to a party, and I stayed home and visited with Sarah.  It was great to have the house to ourselves, quiet-like, and just catch up.  Eventually we were joined by Neil, Everett, Ellen and Suzanne when they got back from their party.  We talked about pets and whether you would kill your pet for a million dollars.  Suzanne wouldn’t.  Neil would.

I don’t remember what I did after that.  Probably skyped.

12.22.10 - Spinach Sausage Loaf

Wednesday morning I got up “early” and drove Mom to work so we would have more cars available with our ever-more-full household.  By the time I got home everyone was still asleep, of course, so I went to Shop’n’Save to buy spinach sausage loaf ingredients.  I enjoy driving around the St. Peters area by myself, listening to music and thinking of my many, many memories of the town.  I went to the Shop’n’Save near Jungermann because I know the layout better—or so I thought.  It was redone enough that I still had to hunt around a bit.  No big deal.

Not sure what I did during the afternoon, but that evening I made spinach sausage loaf of course!  I make less loaves every year, partly due to budget constraints, and partially due to having less people to make loaves for, but either way 5 loaves this year was much easier than 15 loaves once upon a time.  For the beginning I hung out with Sarah and talked and talked.  It was great.  Eddie joined us later, and David also came over.  Given these are the three people outside my family I made loaves for, that worked out really well.

Every year I make spinach sausage loaf for my family and friends. Here they are enjoying the spoils.

Sarah had to leave for reasons I can’t remember, but Eddie and I hung out and chatted in the living room, joined periodically by different people around the house.  Soon I needed to go pick up Mom from work, so Eddie left too.

It’s funny, I remember going to pick up Mom from work last time I was in town, in August.  At that point 8:30p meant it was still light out, and plenty warm.  One evening I was a little early and just parked and rolled down the windows and dozed, listening to the radio.  Not so now.  It had been dark for hours by the time I left, and was certainly too cold to roll down a window.

12.21.10 - Tuesday

Tuesday I went out to lunch again—this time with Aunt Linda, this time at BreadCo, and this time I *did* get the Frontega Chicken Sandwich.  But I was good and only got half of the sandwich with a salad.  I would have liked to have about 5 of those sandwiches, and just finish up my calories for the rest of the week. :P 

Everyone else had gone to visit Uncle Jeff and Aunt Celeste, since they would be unable to make it on actual Christmas day.  I was expecting to come home to an empty house but when I walked in the door I heard Julie shout, from the living room “DON’T COME IN HERE!”  She also expected no one to be home and was using the opportunity to wrap presents, ha.  Once her presents were decent I joined her in the living room and we visited while she continued wrapping. 

I ended up going back to Julie’s place with her to prep for her cookie baking party.  I worked on some SPL stuff and ate turkey soup while Julie fixed some Christmas decorations and prepped cookie dough.  The cats just got in the way, as adorably as possible.

After awhile Aunt Linda and then the three “little” guys and Mom joined us.  Eventually so did Sarah, woohoo!  I ate a lot of raw cookie dough, and spent more time making the chocolate cookies with white chips than actually frosting anything.  As always happens when making tons of sugar cookies, everyone started to get tired and the cookie decorations started to get more ridiculous.  Actually, in some cases the decorations were ridiculous to begin with (I’m looking at you Neil).  We laughed a lot.  It was fun.

Julie's cookies - getting a little tired. :)

Afterward we watched Home Alone II, although we didn’t listen much.  My siblings and I mostly added our own dialogue and plot which, in my opinion, greatly improved the movie.  Except scenes with Tim Curry; you can’t really improve those.  We went home late—too late to watch Firefly.  Damn!  Ah well.  I stayed up and went through all my photos and videos from the cookie party, and eventually Skyped with Jack.  This trip is the first time I’ve used Skype and I love it.

12.20.10 - Monday after Canasta

The Monday after Canasta I went to lunch with Jack's mom, Merlene.  We had sushi (yessss) and talked about how we both think Jack is wonderful.  Afterward I went home and spent a long time talking with Neil in the kitchen while he did Charter work.  There have been several times this trip during which I had no particular plans and simply enjoyed Mom's cozy, Christmas-y house while talking with people.  Very relaxing.

Neil multitasking: Charter work and petting Abigail.

Later that evening I went with Neil to Kat Kaiser's Christmas cookie baking event.  Played some Tichu with Neil, Tim and Becky.  We didn't finish the game.  I've noticed Tichu games tend to be far too slow if Jack isn't playing because most other people are far more cautious about calling Tichu.  Even if your team is doing well you only crawl along with out those 100 point bonuses.  Anyway, I didn't really decorate cookies that night, just watched and chatted about randomness--college, grad school, Mona Lisa Smile, hugs.  Katie's apartment is spacious, and she had a Christmas tree drawn in special markers on her sliding glass door.  She invited guests to draw their own ornaments.  Tim drew a Na atom with a ton of electrons, as well as an Erlenmeyer flask.  Heh.

Neil was gracious enough to drive me home from the party early so I could see Ellen when she got in town.  I visited with her, Julie and Mom.  We discovered that Ellen had also not seen any Firefly, which was a little frustrating since Mom and I were already done with half the season.  Ellen watched a few episodes with us anyway, and caught up on the others on her own.  She loves the show (obviously--she watched it, therefore she loves it).

12.20.10 - Continuation

So on Friday I went to lunch at BreadCo with Angela and Julie and Denny.  It was the first time in years that I did not get a Frontega Chicken Sandwich; instead I got tomato soup, and it was pretty good.

After Denny had gone to work Julie and I ran errands, mostly buying things for Christmas cookies.  Also going by the old library I spent time in during middle school.  St. Peters can be pretty nostalgic, given how much is the same since I moved 6 years ago.

We drove home in terrible traffic so Everett could get to work as well.  That left Julie and me at Mom's with no car, so we watched The Devil Wears Prada.  I believe after that we continued showing Mom Firefly.  I actually forget I'm working out when we're watching that show, because I enjoy it so thoroughly.

Saturday morning I visited with Mom.  I've been doing a lot of that while around the house, and it's nice, because I talk a lot and Mom is one of the people who enjoys that about me.  So I enjoy that she enjoys that.

That afternoon Sheldon came to visit!!  He doesn't live in St. Peters so it was great for him to make the trip.  We lounged around Starbucks for awhile and then we went back to Mom's and watched old home videos from high school and 2005.  Much hilarity ensued.

Neil made it into town that night and later that evening we had another birthday dinner for Julie.  This one included Mom's fettuccine and then peppermint brownies.  Troy joined us, to replace Ellen who was still in CA.  Afterward, more Firefly.  My goal is to watch the entire series with Mom before I go back to CA.

Yesterday I went to church (gym mass) with Mom.  After mass I talked with Katie, a good friend of mine from high school, for quite awhile.  It was great to catch up.  I talked to her for so long, in fact, that Mom gave up waiting for me and drove away to get gas.  Luckily Mom lives very close to All Saints, and it wasn't all that cold out, so I just walked home.  She joined me not long after, and made us Tilapia with some cabbage/spinach/vegetable stir fry.  Delicious.  Mom has lost a lot of weight these last few months partially due to a lot of delicious healthy recipes.  Old fashioned, I know, but I enjoy it.

That afternoon my grandparents and my Aunt Linda joined us for Canasta.  It was a little tricky to play after so many Tichu games, but I remembered.  Between Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, Linda and me, we took out 3 bottles of wine.  It made for some pretty hilarious card games.

Neil's friend Becky teamed up with Linda to make a pretty great comeback and beat Mom and me in the first game.  I decided to sit out the 2nd game and go work out instead.  I've worked out every day I've been in town so far, and I'm hoping it will offset the amazing amount of junk food consumed over Christmas.  I do enjoy elliptical machines.

Later last night a whole bunch of people came over to hang out, likely because Neil is in town now.  There were Disney songs, Tichu, Othello and Dimitri Martin.  I believe a good time was had by all.

But now I keep dozing off trying to get this note done, so this is probably the best place to end it.  Until next time.

12.15.10 - Back in MO

Today I woke up and sat in Mom's living room, which has all the Christmas decorations, the old Christmas children's books from when I was under 10, and all of our presents already wrapped and waiting for us.  The tree only has its lights--we're waiting for Neil and Ellen to get in town to decorate it--but it still adds a lot.  There's also snow on the ground.  Compared with the late autumn weather and lack of outdoor Christmas lights in Berkeley, I feel like I actually woke up in Christmas town.

This is me.

Mom joined me and we visited for awhile.  Told stories.  Then Denny came by and suggested we surprise Julie by having lunch at Olive Garden.  So we did.  Enjoyed a table in an area away from everyone else.  Julie brought us extra olives for our refillable salad.  And yes, Olive Garden has delicious olives.  We swapped stories about incompetent coworkers and/or belligerent customers.  Always plenty of those stories.

Afterward Mom and I ran some errands which ended up involving walking around the mall.  I have a lot of memories there from high school and some summers during college.  It was kind of nice.  We also picked up some denim and she patched my patch-jeans so that they aren't 3 inches too short.  I've only owned them for 5 YEARS and now they finally fit me properly.

And at some point I used the elliptical machine for the first time since August. <3

Later Mom, David and I watched the pilot episode of Firefly.  Mom has never seen the show and I'd like to watch the whole season with her while I'm out here, but we'll see how that goes.  Such a glorious show.  "You've only gotta scare 'im." "Pain is scary."

Good first day. :)