(There's No Place) Like Home for the Holidays

December brought a slew of non-stop busy-ness.  It's been party, party, party... sort of.  I can't remember the last time Hubs and I were invited to a grown up party together until this year.  After Las Vegas, we had four holiday parties last week, plus our wedding anniversary of 29 years on December 11th.  This week was a little calmer but busy with baking and trying to remember what we did with certain Christmas decorations.  I went old school this year and used most of the Christmas decorations from the years when my kids were in grade school.   We also put up the tree in the living room this year. 

The dining room where the tree usually goes is, uh, having issues...  

Like last year, the Kiddo was my decorating buddy and helped me with the majority of the decorating.  Hubs put one ornament on, and and my son put a few up high were I couldn't reach, and my daughter was oblivious to other life around her while busy with studying for finals.  

Living room fireplace.  

I would so love to have a warm fire, but this fireplace needs to be repaired or torn down and rebuilt.  I put candles in it but there's no damper, and the air coming in through the top blows out my candles. *sigh*    The kiddo pointed out that since we can't burn anything in this fireplace that Santa won't get burned when he comes down our chimney.

The Kiddo

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas because I got this surprise delivered today:

Nothing says Merry Christmas more than socks, holiday peppermint Gu's, and Stingers from  blogger Tara - Colorado Runner!   Yay! 

The packages were shipped from REI.  When UPS delivered the boxes I was wracking my head trying to remember what I had ordered from REI.  Then it clicked that these were from my Secret Santa from the Bloggie Gift Exchange.  One box contained the great pair of Smartwool running socks, and the other box contained the Gu's and Stingers.  The timing is perfect because I'm out of any type of gel/goo electrolyte and I just might have to save a couple for the Carlsbad half marathon next month.  The socks are on my feet right now:

Warm and cushy!  I can't wait to run in these! Thanks so much, Tara!

On the running front, not a lot of running has been happening.  Somewhere between the parties and work, I caught a cold.  It's not a bad cold, but just enough to mess up the flow of day-to-day life.   I know I had the cold before I had to deal with the bratty snot-nosed kid patient and his clueless mother.* Gross. I hope to do a slow, longish run this Saturday morning, which happens to be Christmas Eve.

In other news, for the first time in YEARS (2000?) I received a cash bonus at work.  I honestly wasn't expecting much of anything, maybe a box of candy, but since I'm part-time right now I felt the bonus was rather generous.  I had plans for new Ugg boots and have change left over for an outfit, BUT one of my cats became rather ill yesterday and my bonus went towards paying the vet bill. Merry Christmas to my vet. Oh well.   At least I had that cash to help lessen the blow of that hefty vet bill, and for that I am grateful.    FYI, it was my little girl cat, Luna, the little bitty 8 pound cat who can beat up our 75 pound dog.  The vet thinks it's a thyroid issue.  She's doing much better now and will be on meds for a week.  Good times.

This year we didn't send out Christmas cards.  I suppose we could have, we just didn't.  I'm thinking of New Year's cards.   Just in case, consider this picture of the Kiddo and me your Christmas card from me:

Wishing you all lots of Christmas cheer!

Song from Thursday, December 8, 2011:  

Good Intentions - Toad the Wet Sprocket

 PEACE

*On the scale of one to ten in snotty-nosed grossness, this kid was a 10, plus he sneezed all over everything.  It was so gross that I felt the need to wipe everything down with rubbing alcohol when he and his mother left the building.  I'm not a germophobe, but felt gross dealing with this obnoxious kid.  I just don't understand parents who let their kids run a muck in a medical office, or any professional office.  Sheesh.

Good Riddance

I haven't fallen off the  face of the earth.  I'm still here. I survived my first two months of full time work with over time and the holidays.

This is an amazingly decent photo of Hubs and I back in November before I became chronically tired from working over time. I'm amazed that I don't have dark circles under my eyes in this picture, but this was the calm before the mayhem.  By the way, Hubs is no longer allowed to wear that hat because we discovered that it's actually signed by former Padres baseball player, Tony Gwynn.

Christmas Eve Hubs and I decided to hit the mall first thing, at 7 AM to finish up the Christmas shopping. We basically got out of bed,  threw on some clothes and went to the mall before it became mayhem.  By 10 AM we were done, but Hubs wandered off.  While I was sitting in front of Macy's at Fashion Valley by the Santa visiting area, trying to call Hubs, I hear, "Hey, that's Irene."  I look up and it's AKA Alice and family. AKA Alice looked fabulous, fresh, and coiffed. I looked like death warmed over.  Thank goodness (for me) there were no cameras involved.  It was fun catching up for a brief moment, and that gave Hubs time to wander back to where I was waiting.  It suddenly felt very Christmas-y.  Up until that very point of seeing AKA Alice and family, I had been stuck in a vortex of work and being on auto-pilot.  Yes, we put up the tree and various Christmas decorations, but I hadn't been able to enjoy any of it. I'm not sure why this was a turning point for me, but the whirlwind that is my life right now sort of calmed down at that point, perhaps it was seeing someone else actually enjoying the holiday, and I was finally able to relax and enjoy my Christmas holiday.  Christmas Eve night was pretty quiet, with dinner at Hub's sister's house and a few family members.  All was calm. All was (relatively) bright.

Christmas morning I was up early making holiday sticky buns.  No one else was up yet, and I was enjoying the silence of the morning.  After I get the sticky buns in the oven and the aroma permeates the house, Evan wakes up, runs right past the Christmas tree -- ignoring the loot Santa put under the tree, and wants to see what I'm making, and asks for a cup of hot cocoa.  It was priceless. He never once asked about opening gifts.

This was taken before the realization that Santa had visited our house, before the mayhem.  FYI, that's his 1969 Chevy Chevelle SS, that his uncle Jim and aunt Katie had given him the night before.  He asked me to put in the car's info.  Some kids sleep with stuffed animals.  Evan sleeps with his cars.

Just so you all know, my grandson was asking for the actual Polar Express train to stop by our house, and not a toy version. Santa hooked him up some great toys on his (ever expanding) list.

It's hard to see, but Santa brought a Razor Ground Force Drifter...

...and a lot of action figures, amongst other goodies.

It really isn't Christmas until the dog rolls in the gift wrap.

One of the best gifts of all is that we were able to spend Christmas with my sister and her husband, here, in San Diego, for the first time in YEARS.

Hubs, Me, my bro-in-law, my sister.

I worked half day on New Year's Eve, but I was able to participate in a rather off-beat office tradition that I forgot about.  We each write a list of things or people we'd like to forget about from the year, fold it, place it in a large tin and burn our lists.  I didn't have a list of people on my list, but a list of my injuries over the past year.  I'm not sure if this was therapeutic or not, but it was kind of funny to see my boss burn her list of former psycho employees.  I guess it's a release kind of thing, just to let go and start fresh in the new year.  The ashes were flushed down the toilet.  Yes, where I work is not typical and is (still) like being in a sit-com.

By the way, my boss hooked me up with a pair of Moeben sleeves in tye dye as one of my Christmas presents. 

Hubs and I had no plans or parties to attend, watched SNL reruns, and I struggled to stay awake to ring in the new year.  (When did I become an old fart, anyway?)  With less than 5 minutes to the new year, Hubs scrambled to find THE bottle of champagne from the back of the fridge and opened it just in time. Evan was with us and stayed awake long enough to ring in the new year, go outside and beat a couple of old pie tins together and yell "Happy New Year!"

The good thing about having a low keyed New Year's Eve is that there was no hangover to deal with.  It's not that I often find myself in a state of hangover-ness, it's just that it takes longer for me to bounce back than it did when I was in my 20s. 

I still have not run since I ran the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll half marathon at the beginning of December.   My shin splints aren't as bad any more, and I really need one more week off, but I have the Carlsbad Half Marathon at the end of January.  I've run a half marathon with 3 weeks of training and lived to tell about it, and I'll do it again.  My stats won't be great, but I'll get to run.  Then again, it's not my first half marathon, either.

Happy New Year, and may all your hopes and dreams for 2011 come true.

Song from Saturday, December 24, 2010:
What Child Is This? - Josh Groban, Carrie Underwood, Vince Guaraldi Trio, Vanessa Williams, Andrea Bocelli, Burl Ives, etc...

PEACE