So This is Christmas

I am still having a bit of a hard time believing that today is Christmas. This year has certainly flown by. This week at work was so busy I didn't have time to wrap the presents until late last night. As a very organized person, this drove me a bit nuts to be so delayed. But it was unavoidable due to the project that will be occupying my Sunday. With a full belly and warm heart from spending a great Christmas Eve and Christmas with people I love, I am not thinking about work tonight.

For my family like many others, Christmas is all about the food (well actually, any holiday is all about the food for us.) This year, my brother did a killer job on the best pork roast with fig sauce. The pork was so juicy and tender. It makes me want to drool thinking about it. And the potatoes. Mmmm. Cheesy and so very good. Add to that baked manicotti, roasted vegetable soup and antipasto. I have basically been eating non-stop since 2pm yesterday when I participated in about three of the seven fishes of the Christmas Eve feast of my downstairs neighbors. The food was great, along with the champagne. I was the lucky recipient of plenty of leftovers from our dinner now taking up space in my fridge. Of course, just when I think I am not hungry I am eating something else.

Of course the other part of this holiday is the gift giving. Everyone seemed very happy with their presents and I am with mine. It was fun watching my very hung over brother trying to wrestle with the complexities of tape and wrapping paper. I am so in love with my new Sorel boots I will admit to having worn them around the house for about 30 minutes. It's important to make sure they fit :-)

So with that, the butter cookies are calling my name. Merry Christmas!

Holiday Spirit

So if the events of the last few days have not gotten me in the holiday spirit, nothing will at this point. I was lucky enough to finally see the Aimee Mann Holiday Variety show with my friend. Yes, I know Aimee Mann is not necessarily the first person you think of for an cheery, upbeat Christmas song but it was a fun show. And she played some of her non-Christmas songs so it was all good. What was not good was the torrential downpours that were occurring. It was crazy to drive home through these giant puddles.

I did realize that my town got some ice but did not realize how bad it was just a few miles north of me. People are still without power today from all the ice and damage. When I left for NY on Saturday morning, I saw a line of utility and power trucks heading into MA from CT and there had to be about 20 of them all coming to help restore power.


I arrived into Grand Central, and much like last year was besieged by Santas. If getting dressed up as Santa, slutty Santa, or a pimp Snowman, singing bawdy Christmas Carols, and drinking at 10 am are your idea of fun then SantaCon is for you! Think of a Santa Pub crawl and you've got the idea. All fun, except when you get stuck on the 6 train with about 20 of them pretty well sauced up and singing at the top of their lungs.

It was freezing in the city but this time I did remember to bring my hat with me. It was so great to be back and I had a lot I wanted to do. I was unable to catch up with most of my friends but was actually happy to have a weekend in the city with no set plans.

The tree was lovely and had the usual crowd around it. Fortunately the things I had to do were in much less congested parts of the city. I am still puzzled though by how people can stop dead in the center of a crosswalk like a deer in headlights. I know there are a lot of people, cars and shiny objects but gawk from the sidewalk, not in the road!! I did give out a bunch of directions, which I don't mind. I like helping people along.

The food was good and I did manage to get my cupcake on Sunday. Full of sugar, I decided to head back home a bit earlier than normal. The next few weeks are going to be extremely busy at work and I preferred to drive back in the daylight.