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Dec. 28th, 2006
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On the Third Day of Christmas...
Dec. 28th, 2006 04:56 pmFor yes, that is what the Jade Cat had- three days of Christmas. On the first day of Christmas- which was Saturday- we managed to fit 9 people in my apartment. Was not sure this was terribly possible- when added to the two cats and dog.
See, this year it was impossible to get both brothers in the same place. Which meant creativity had to be employed, and I got out my magic "How to make everyone happy (as much as possible) and still get my own way?" stick and waved it around (resisting the temptation to beat people with it). The result was: Saturday Christmas with my parents, elder brother M and SIL B (with baby E who will likely be making an appearance this weekend!), Sunday Christmas spent with Hubby's family (his mom, step-dad, sis, BIL, his two kids, Hubby's Daughter M, her hubby and Baby B)was switched from my MIL's house to my SIL K's house, then Monday Christmas was spent at my parents' house with elder brother J, SIL M and Grandpa. :) Ya with me still?
Okay, For Saturday so me Mum suggests inviting Aunts L and G since they live near by, oh and by the way Elder Brother M wants meatloaf for dinner- but that's problematic because SIL B doesn't like oregano and that's in the meatloaf. This I explain is not actually a problem since my hubby doesn't like oregano, I put it in the meatloaf anyway- and he loves the meatloaf. So okay, now we're having meatloaf for 8 people. We can do this. Then Saturday morning Uncle E calls because he's heard about this gathering- now Uncle E became a grandpa for the first time just a couple months ago, so I thought he would be spending the holiday with his son and granddaughter. Well, he was, just he wasn't leaving until the next day. Okay fine. So now it's 9 people.
The cleaning was hectic- because I delayed of course, there was Champions of Norrath to be played. I managed NOT to get stressed about hosting Christmas Dinner until just before noon on Saturday. Which is when my mom and dad showed up (early and while the hubby was out running an errand) and calmed me down. They were early because Dad was up and ready to go, which meant going had to be done. Otherwise he'd likely start something else and then not be ready to go, or get cranky. ;) As an aside- when they came in my dad took over Sasha's chair, which made her very curious, so she actually walked over to him. After a moment of trying to convince her to sit in his lap, dad just picked her up and put her there, treating her like his cat Liska. Sasha wasn't sure what to make of this- this not being her usual treatment. She put up with it for awhile, and then had to go find her dignity. ;)
Eventually food was in varying stages of ready and the guests were assembling. Food was eaten- and proclaimed to be excellent! Which made for much happiness in this quarter. There were presents- always appreciated. Elder Brother M and SIL B had my name- and got me a wireless controller for the PS2. :) This is most cool for a number of reasons, including preventing the animals from getting killed (when using a wired controller part of their runway had a small wire obstacle that sometimes they avoided and sometimes they didn't, the latter had the potential to include creative language usage as the controller was wrenched from the player's hand, or unplugged).
The Animals tried to assist, Leo taking over one of the chairs in an attempt to join the people. Sadly, chairs were few in number and the people wanted to occupy them. Leo also attempted to help with the opening of presents, but he was removed from the couch. Also, my mom brought brownies in a pan nearly identical to Leo's. Well, she initially put it on the corner of the counter- where Leo's pan goes. I quickly moved it, after all, most people wouldn't want brownies that had had a cat attempting to lie on them... And I could just see Leo leaping up onto the counter and into his pan like normal and getting confused because it had acquired a strange mattress when he wasn't looking. Kyle impressed everyone, of course, he has this wonderful 'I'm the best dog in the world!' act that he does when we have people over... I did get a picture of him lookin' all handsome with a red bow on his head- I'll have to post that later too.
So that was Saturday.
Sunday was similar in terms of when we had to be up and moving. We drove to the SIL's and were utterly charmed by Baby B- who is a whole year old now! OMG! She's a doll- such a happy little girl who would get kinda melty, accept cuddles from whoever was willing (and had her pink blankie) and then would be rarin' to go again in a minute or two. Grandpa (my hubby) gave her a piece of paper from my present to him- and she was utterly enthralled, and was SOOO happy with him. I got an amazing picture of it that I'll have to post later. I do wish we could see her more, and her parents! But understand that they're just rather busy and just don't think about it- more fly by the seat of your pants, do things as they come up- rather than making advance plans. When you live more than an hour away from someone- just dropping by randomly, or doing something spur of the moment, doesn't happen often.
Hubby was quite thrilled with his gift of Peanuts- I got him the first 4-5 years of dailies in two hard cover books. He was actually speechless. Anne done did good. :) As for me, he got me a lovely black 'velvet' jacket from Lane Bryant- I had been eyeing it, but didn't think he'd actually get it for me! The day before he gave me "Lost in a Good Book" the Jasper fforde novel. So far me likes! He got season one of Justice League. :)
Monday- involved again getting up too earlier, gathering all the gifties to go up to Midland- including the doggins, and then driving up there. Since Grandpa moved back to Michigan Mom has taken much of his stuff in- so for Christmas we were able to use the plates that Grandma had. I haven't seen these since I was a kid- so it was pretty special to me. Grandpa was looking pretty good- and before the evening was out he and my hubby got into a conversation regarding the biography of E=MC2 and the life or stars, then there was something about the human eye and vision- but I was wandering in and out of the room at that point. SIL M seemed really touched by and liked the framed cross-stitch angel we gave her. So that was cool. The puppy was again doing his 'I'm so well behaved!' act... And had a ball running around in the back yard like a crazy thing. Apparently he's figured out how to play fetch the stick all by himself. :) Oh, and the pressies I got for the day included a three Jim Henson DVD set with Labyrinth, Dark Crystal and Mirror Mask. :) Hubby got a set of cds from Frank Sinatra's Columbia days. He seemed pleased. :)
So there were the three days of Christmas. And thus I was more social in just a few days than I normally am for months. And why my brain went kerflooey there for a bit. Didn't help that late in the day on Tuesday the boss sprung the words "Oh, I'm going to do your review later this week" on me. *begin panic* I've since calmed down... Haven't had the review, but I calmed down.
In annoyed news- my bracelet watch, which I absolutely adore and have had for years and wear every damn day, fell off as I was getting into the car this morning. I didn't realize until part way through the day that I couldn't find it. I checked home while I was there for lunch- and nope, not there. Then as I was walking to my car I was thinking of the few other times this has happened- but I always found my watch. And then yup, found watch in carport. And either I, or my neighbors, drove over it. :( It still works, but the metal it a little messed up and I don't know if it's fixable or not. So yes, there will be much pouting for some time. And if you've actually read all this you should get a medal of some kind. :)
See, this year it was impossible to get both brothers in the same place. Which meant creativity had to be employed, and I got out my magic "How to make everyone happy (as much as possible) and still get my own way?" stick and waved it around (resisting the temptation to beat people with it). The result was: Saturday Christmas with my parents, elder brother M and SIL B (with baby E who will likely be making an appearance this weekend!), Sunday Christmas spent with Hubby's family (his mom, step-dad, sis, BIL, his two kids, Hubby's Daughter M, her hubby and Baby B)was switched from my MIL's house to my SIL K's house, then Monday Christmas was spent at my parents' house with elder brother J, SIL M and Grandpa. :) Ya with me still?
Okay, For Saturday so me Mum suggests inviting Aunts L and G since they live near by, oh and by the way Elder Brother M wants meatloaf for dinner- but that's problematic because SIL B doesn't like oregano and that's in the meatloaf. This I explain is not actually a problem since my hubby doesn't like oregano, I put it in the meatloaf anyway- and he loves the meatloaf. So okay, now we're having meatloaf for 8 people. We can do this. Then Saturday morning Uncle E calls because he's heard about this gathering- now Uncle E became a grandpa for the first time just a couple months ago, so I thought he would be spending the holiday with his son and granddaughter. Well, he was, just he wasn't leaving until the next day. Okay fine. So now it's 9 people.
The cleaning was hectic- because I delayed of course, there was Champions of Norrath to be played. I managed NOT to get stressed about hosting Christmas Dinner until just before noon on Saturday. Which is when my mom and dad showed up (early and while the hubby was out running an errand) and calmed me down. They were early because Dad was up and ready to go, which meant going had to be done. Otherwise he'd likely start something else and then not be ready to go, or get cranky. ;) As an aside- when they came in my dad took over Sasha's chair, which made her very curious, so she actually walked over to him. After a moment of trying to convince her to sit in his lap, dad just picked her up and put her there, treating her like his cat Liska. Sasha wasn't sure what to make of this- this not being her usual treatment. She put up with it for awhile, and then had to go find her dignity. ;)
Eventually food was in varying stages of ready and the guests were assembling. Food was eaten- and proclaimed to be excellent! Which made for much happiness in this quarter. There were presents- always appreciated. Elder Brother M and SIL B had my name- and got me a wireless controller for the PS2. :) This is most cool for a number of reasons, including preventing the animals from getting killed (when using a wired controller part of their runway had a small wire obstacle that sometimes they avoided and sometimes they didn't, the latter had the potential to include creative language usage as the controller was wrenched from the player's hand, or unplugged).
The Animals tried to assist, Leo taking over one of the chairs in an attempt to join the people. Sadly, chairs were few in number and the people wanted to occupy them. Leo also attempted to help with the opening of presents, but he was removed from the couch. Also, my mom brought brownies in a pan nearly identical to Leo's. Well, she initially put it on the corner of the counter- where Leo's pan goes. I quickly moved it, after all, most people wouldn't want brownies that had had a cat attempting to lie on them... And I could just see Leo leaping up onto the counter and into his pan like normal and getting confused because it had acquired a strange mattress when he wasn't looking. Kyle impressed everyone, of course, he has this wonderful 'I'm the best dog in the world!' act that he does when we have people over... I did get a picture of him lookin' all handsome with a red bow on his head- I'll have to post that later too.
So that was Saturday.
Sunday was similar in terms of when we had to be up and moving. We drove to the SIL's and were utterly charmed by Baby B- who is a whole year old now! OMG! She's a doll- such a happy little girl who would get kinda melty, accept cuddles from whoever was willing (and had her pink blankie) and then would be rarin' to go again in a minute or two. Grandpa (my hubby) gave her a piece of paper from my present to him- and she was utterly enthralled, and was SOOO happy with him. I got an amazing picture of it that I'll have to post later. I do wish we could see her more, and her parents! But understand that they're just rather busy and just don't think about it- more fly by the seat of your pants, do things as they come up- rather than making advance plans. When you live more than an hour away from someone- just dropping by randomly, or doing something spur of the moment, doesn't happen often.
Hubby was quite thrilled with his gift of Peanuts- I got him the first 4-5 years of dailies in two hard cover books. He was actually speechless. Anne done did good. :) As for me, he got me a lovely black 'velvet' jacket from Lane Bryant- I had been eyeing it, but didn't think he'd actually get it for me! The day before he gave me "Lost in a Good Book" the Jasper fforde novel. So far me likes! He got season one of Justice League. :)
Monday- involved again getting up too earlier, gathering all the gifties to go up to Midland- including the doggins, and then driving up there. Since Grandpa moved back to Michigan Mom has taken much of his stuff in- so for Christmas we were able to use the plates that Grandma had. I haven't seen these since I was a kid- so it was pretty special to me. Grandpa was looking pretty good- and before the evening was out he and my hubby got into a conversation regarding the biography of E=MC2 and the life or stars, then there was something about the human eye and vision- but I was wandering in and out of the room at that point. SIL M seemed really touched by and liked the framed cross-stitch angel we gave her. So that was cool. The puppy was again doing his 'I'm so well behaved!' act... And had a ball running around in the back yard like a crazy thing. Apparently he's figured out how to play fetch the stick all by himself. :) Oh, and the pressies I got for the day included a three Jim Henson DVD set with Labyrinth, Dark Crystal and Mirror Mask. :) Hubby got a set of cds from Frank Sinatra's Columbia days. He seemed pleased. :)
So there were the three days of Christmas. And thus I was more social in just a few days than I normally am for months. And why my brain went kerflooey there for a bit. Didn't help that late in the day on Tuesday the boss sprung the words "Oh, I'm going to do your review later this week" on me. *begin panic* I've since calmed down... Haven't had the review, but I calmed down.
In annoyed news- my bracelet watch, which I absolutely adore and have had for years and wear every damn day, fell off as I was getting into the car this morning. I didn't realize until part way through the day that I couldn't find it. I checked home while I was there for lunch- and nope, not there. Then as I was walking to my car I was thinking of the few other times this has happened- but I always found my watch. And then yup, found watch in carport. And either I, or my neighbors, drove over it. :( It still works, but the metal it a little messed up and I don't know if it's fixable or not. So yes, there will be much pouting for some time. And if you've actually read all this you should get a medal of some kind. :)