Nowhere to go but up

2008 has not been a year that I'd want to live over again. It's had its bright spots, but overall I'd have to say it sucked. No where to go but up.

And the icing on the cake for the year is I'm ringing in the New Year without heat. I'm not kidding. While I was out of town, a fuse blew, which then caused the transformer on the heater to melt, so they had to turn the heat off to replace the part. Of course, because of the holiday, they couldn't find anyone available to come and do that until Friday. So I'm spending New Year's Eve and Day trying to keep warm with 3 space heaters, blankets, hot tea, long underwear (thank the lord for Patagonia capilene!) and wool socks and slippers. Layers, lots of layers. I will say that it was lucky that one of the other tenants was home and reported the issue before it caused a fire.

My Aunt and Grandmother sent me home from my visit to Michigan with a can of green beans, a can of black eyed peas, and a small ham so I could have my traditional New Year's Day meal. This is a very good thing since I didn't have a chance to get to the store today with all the heat issues. I'm pairing my meal this year with baked sweet potato fries for something different. In addition to the meal fixings, they also sent me home with an insane amount of cookies, chocolates, and other goodies.

I did have a wonderful visit to Michigan for Christmas. My new baby cousin is adorable, even when he spits up on me (which he did more than once) and cries all over my shirt. I spent 7 days completely offline, with little to no cell phone reception, forcing me to disconnect from the world for a bit and just focus on the time with family. It was wonderful. I really wish I lived closer to them.

Anyway, I'm going to curl up on the couch with the pets and a mug of tea and wait for the ball to drop so 2008 will finally be over. I can't wait. I really think there's nowhere to go but up from here (especially with the lack of heat) so things must improve in 2009.

Finally don't forget the New Year's Rules people!! Don't you dare do any laundry!

Coming back to life

I'm still alive. Really. I know I haven't posted for two months. I was in "keep my head down and maybe I won't lose it" mode. Things have been a bit insane and until the personal earthquakes finally stopped I just focused on making it through each day.

Here's a nice summary list of the major events since July, in rough chronological order, handily organized by month.

July
*My cousin gives birth to a baby boy! Welcome to the family! My grandmother can now stop putting pressure on me about having her great-grandbabies before she dies (for some reason she was fixated on me being the one to have the babies). So thank you to my cousin. :)
*I take a long weekend and drive up to Boston, MA for a friend's wedding reception (YAY for LHK and WK!!) and to visit a good friend from grad school. Flickr pictures of the reception and my friend's garden (BF is an amazing gardener!).
*I move mid-month.
One week after moving the following events occurred:
*Visitors! My good friends LC and SB!
*Ozomatli concert! (the reason for my visitors)
*A leak appears in the ceiling in my bedroom closet, forcing me to take all the clothes I had recently unpacked and put away back out of the closet again.

August
*The leak in my closet ceiling is due to a leak in upstairs bathroom tub faucet. During repairs, the leak spreads to middle of my bedroom and rains all over the clothes I had removed from the closet to protect them. Dammit.
*Bike tires meet trolley rails. Ouch!
*Mid-month my mother arrives for a visit! YAY!!!
*One day prior to my mother's arrival, my landlord has a disagreement with the gas company and they turn off the gas service to the property. The gas powers the heat, hot water, and my stove. So now I can't shower or cook. Fortunately it's August so I don't have to worry about the heat just yet.
*My landlord replaces the gas hot water heater and my gas stove with electric appliances (note the furnace is NOT replaced at this time). I spend FIVE DAYS while they do this without hot water or the ability to cook anything. My mother suffers with me. Great visit, no?
*My mother fortunately is able to extend her visit by a few days so we can enjoy each others company once we've showered. :) She helps me finish unpacking and settling into my new apartment.
*My sister comes for a visit to attend the Nine Inch Nails concert with me!! w00t!! A truly incredible concert. We had a wonderful time hanging out together the rest of the weekend too.
*In the midst of all of this, things continue to change and move forward into an uncertain (yet encouraging) future at work. My new library school intern also started work the second week of August and I spend much of the first part of the month training her. Fortunately she's a quick study.

September
*Work is crazy. The students return and the semester begins. Additional organizational changes at work are announced.
*Mid-month I take a few days vacation that don't involve a pet emergency/drama, apartment drama, or some other drama. I enjoyed several days with no internet spending time with a really good friend just hanging out and relaxing. It was wonderful. Then I returned home and opened my email. Yikes.
*Upon returning from my [far too brief] vacation I adopted a cat to bring my total of four-legged furry children to two. Yes, a cat named Capri (pics on Flickr). And she and the dog get along just fine, thankyouverymuch.

October
*Work continues to be insanely busy.
*The month starts off badly with me getting sick with a fever for two days after getting soaked by rain.
*One of my best friends from college gets married in Louisville, KY. YAY for EH and KD!! Congrats!! KD, you are a very lucky woman as EH is an awesome guy. I'm so glad I was able to attend and had a blast at the wedding (photos I took at the event are posted here on Flickr).
*It gets cold. Since my landlords have not replaced my furnace or gotten the gas turned back on, the temperature in my apartment drops to 62 degrees, sometimes dipping a bit below that during the night. I start sleeping in my long underwear (normally reserved for camping) and wool socks.
*I get sick. Again. With the cold from hell that lays me up for nearly a week when my asthma kicks in and breathing becomes work. For several days after I start recovering I continue to sound like a husky lounge singer.
*The Phillies win the World Series! The city erupts in chaotic celebrations. Mayor Nutter reminds everyone: "You can be joyous. You cannot be a jackass." Fabulous!
*A new leak appears in the ceiling of my bedroom...this time in the middle of the room. I have to move the dog bed so plaster doesn't fall on her head.
*At the end of October I still don't have heat. After 3 workmen give estimates about what it would cost to convert to electric heat, my landlord decides to make a deal with the gas company to turn the gas back on so they can fire up the furnace. Mind you, access to the furnace for the building is through MY apartment...so each new workman means another person in my space.

November
*On Monday, Nov. 3rd, after 3 more days, a visit from the gas company to replace a meter (also in my apartment) and turn the gas back on, and visits from THREE different handymen, the furnace is finally turned back on and my apartment has heat! Just in time for a warm spell...oh well.
*The handymen on Monday kill two birds with one stone with their visit and fix the leak at the same time they get the furnace fired up! Efficiency is a beautiful thing.
*History is made and we elect Barak Obama as our next president. I am ecstatic!!

And I think that brings us to the present.

People I know on the radio!

Mornings with Margaret Throsby: 6 May 2008

My mom's partner Philip C. Almond on the radio! He and Margaret Throsby discuss religious thought and belief, both historically and today. They also talk about his latest book, the Witches of Warboys, which is all about witchcraft in Elizabethan England as exemplified in one witch trail. It's received excellent reviews. The discussion is interspersed with music chosen by Philip.

Philip is a Emeritus Professor of Studies of Religion at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. He is also an excellent cook.

How cool!! Go Philip!

Things that keep you up at night

Well, things that keep my grandmother up anyway. My mom called me tonight to let me know my grandmother was staying up nights worrying. Worrying about what, you ask?

Whether there were enough plots at the cemetery all next to each other for the entire family so we'd be together.

Yes, I'm serious.

She counted the number of people, and the number of plots we have, and then was staying up at night worrying about the numbers matching up correctly.

These are the kinds of things in my family that necessitate multiple international phone calls and extensive negotiations and agreements/commitments from all family members. She needed us to confirm whether or not we still wanted to be buried there. So she'd know where we were going to be, to be able to "place" us somewhere [side note: in the interest of being able to place us in her mind, she has a photo album that has pictures of every house/apartment I've ever lived in...I'm up to 14 now]. But the worrying is now over. All is well.

I love my family.

Connected

Even with an ocean separating us, my mom and I are connected. And I'm not talking about being related, but actually linked subconsciously in some disturbing-freaky-OMG way. Case in point:

You know how I had laryngitis last week? And had nothing but a husky squeak for a voice for several days? Well, I got an email from my mother. She's had laryngitis for the past week. And she sounds like Minnie Mouse when she has it.

I just about peed my pants laughing when I read that email. Just proves that you can separate us by an entire ocean, put is in separate hemispheres, and we'll still be connected. Comforting, yes, but also disturbing and freaky.

Home again

I'm home from the great white north. And there was snow. Snow flurries and plenty of snow already on the ground. Deep enough that Aussie couldn't walk in it because her legs are too short. So she jumped through it like a rabbit. She looked hilarious but was obviously quite happy and having an excellent time.

Time with my family was good. Low key. Relaxing. Lots of laughter and catching up. We had a house full on Christmas Eve (our traditional night to gather and celebrate and open gifts). I got sleep (as much as possible...but wow insomnia sucks). But I came to the scary realization that all my freakish habits and behaviors are probably inherited. I'm so much like my mom's side of the family it's disturbing. I could practically predict what people were going to do because I would do it if I were them. I am obviously my mother's daughter, and there is no doubt that we are all related (not that there ever was, but it was made quite obvious to me this time that we are all so much alike).

And the amount of food was insane. So much food, and there are still leftovers. I came home with some great recipes, however, that I'm looking forward to making. A few of my friends are having open houses over the next few weeks, so I have ample opportunities to make banana cake or grape salad.

I did take some pictures, and eventually they'll be up on Flickr. Which will be easier to accomplish once I have home internet again [still none because UPS is closed on Monday, the 31st, so I can't get the modem until Jan. 2nd...cranky!].

In the meantime, I'll be furiously housecleaning and preparing for the New Year and company in mid-January during the ALA Midwinter Meeting. And don't forget the New Year's Day Rules!! My aunt tried to send me home with a can of black eyed peas and a can of green beans. I had to swear on the graves of several relatives that I already had some at home before she would let it go. I triple checked before I left because I knew this conversation would happen (again, able to predict behavior because I just know). Instead, she's sending them to my cousin in Florida. And the bizarre tradition of mailing canned goods continues...

So Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Well, as luck would have it, I still do not have home internet and the holiday break is upon us. My department at the library will be closed until January 2nd, which means that unless I schlep myself and my laptop to a coffee shop with free wireless, I will be completely without email for a bit (blessing? or curse? I can't decide...). My home DSL is scheduled to be activated on Dec. 27th, but I won't be holding my breath.

Not that it matters, as I'm headed north (technically to the north-west) for a few days. North to a small town where my cell phone reception is spotty, and the chances of wireless internet access is even spottier. But I'll be with family, and taking a much needed break for a bit. There will be lots of food, the dog will be spoiled rotten (even more so) by everyone who sneaks her extra dog biscuits and bits of apple (Grandmother, I'm talking about you!) and lets her up on the couch, there will be snow (yay!), and lots of time to talk and catch up. I haven't seen my family for year, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! If you're traveling, be safe.

Now back to attempting to look like I'm doing work on the day before a week and a half holiday break!

Where have I been, you ask?

I know I've been silent for more than a few days now. What can I say...it was a holiday weekend, I left town, and I had no internet connection for 3 whole days. Really. Three. Whole. Days. And I survived. And then I came home and logged on and was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of email and spam in my inboxes. I finally finished digging myself out almost 36 hours later.

For Labor Day weekend I headed up north to Hanover, New Hampshire. Some good family friends (we consider them extended family) live up there and were having a big celebration on Sunday. So I went as the family representative. My dad and DH went to law school together, and DH literally has known me my entire life (he sneaked into the hospital after visiting hours the day I was born). His partner JF entered the picture a year later. Here we are 30 years later and I'm amazed a just how lucky I am to have two such incredible people in my life. I'm even more amazed that they are still together after all these years, despite society (for the most part) not accepting them for who they are and who they love. But they made it. And as different as they are (and oh boy are they different), there is so much love there it's humbling. And knowing that they love me and that I always have a place in their home and in their lives is so priceless I don't know how to describe it.

Enough sappiness...they also throw a great party. JF arranged for my dog and I to stay with a very nice woman, ED, who lived nearby. ED was more than happy to have a dog in her house again for a few days, and lucky for me Aussie was on her best behavior (she always behaves well in other people's homes...hm...). I got up nice and early on Saturday and hit the road, arriving into Hanover by early afternoon without incident and without encountering any traffic to speak of (can we say miracle?!). ED and I had a nice visit and Aussie made a thorough inspection of ED's very beautiful and fenced in yard (it's been awhile since the dog and I have had one of those and Aussie was in heaven) before ED and I headed over to DH and JF's for a delicious spaghetti dinner. As always, DH and JF pulled together a very eclectic, intelligent, entertaining, and generally wonderful group of people. The conversation was fun and overall just fantastic. So many interesting people to talk to. And the spaghetti sauce that JF made was so good. As was the garlic bread with chunks of garlic sitting on each crusty piece. Delicious. And then there was raspberry or strawberry-rhubarb pie and various ice cream flavors for dessert. It was a feast! After dinner ED and I headed back to her place to let the dog out and get a nice long night's sleep.

Sunday we got up and read the paper for a bit. ED told me that there's a craft fair on Sundays in the same place there's a farmers market on Saturdays just across the state line into Vermont. I had obviously missed the farmers market, but the craft fair sounded like a lovely way to pass the day until the big celebration for DH and JF that afternoon. So we said goodbye to the dog (Aussie made herself right at home and was decidedly unconcerned about our departure and immediately laid down on the couch for a nap) and headed over to Vermont. The craft fair was full of local artists from nearby towns in New Hampshire and Vermont. Woodcarvers, lots of jewelry makers, an incredible glass blower, and all sorts of fabric crafts including silk screened t-shirts, things made from recycled fabrics, hand-spun wool yarn, and various knitted and crocheted things. So much talent in a rather small space. The crafts were beautiful. I even found a belated birthday gift for my friend Catechresis (surprise!) that I will put in the mail soon. And ED and I got a gift for DH and JF that was just perfect (they thought so too when they opened it!).

After wandering and admiring everything, we made a quick stop at the local Co-Op for some local maple syrup for me (grade B, nice and dark and thick, and you can't usually find that grade in the supermarket) and some pure maple sugar candy to share back at work. Then we headed to the house to change (the day had warmed up into a beautiful and sunny day that wasn't too hot...absolutely perfect weather) and take care of the dog before heading to the party site.

We arrived at the Storrs Pond Recreation Area and were immediately put to work by JF (he has a habit of doing this). They had a collection of pictures of the two of them through the years to be hung for people to look through. These included everything from their class photos from elementary school and other childhood photos, photos from around the time that they met, various photos of them individually, photos of them with friends and family, to photos of them together from the past 30 years. So much fun to look through. It was hard to stay focused on the task of hanging them because we kept stopping to look and laugh and ask questions (when? where? who's this? OMG so young!)!

They also had the friendship quilt that was made for them for their 20 year celebration. A friend sneaked into their house and stole their address book and sent the information to another friend. She in turn sent each person on that contact list a quilting square and a request to put something personal on it. She then incorporated all those squares from everyone into a beautiful hand stitched quilt for DH and JF to treasure. Such amazing handiwork! It's incredible to see how the two of them have touched so many lives. And it's held up beautifully through the past 10 years.

Other guests started arriving, and tickets were handed out for the raffle. Now, the door prizes were really more of an opportunity for DH and JF to give away some of the massive amounts of stuff they've gathered (few people leave their house empty handed). And it included some really nice prizes: like books (with the authors present to sign them, no less!) and some of JF's amazing photographs (including copies of HIS new book!). Oh, and JF had fun telling a story about each person that won. I was drawing numbers (see? he gives out jobs!) and I made sure I did not draw mine...god only knows what embarrassing story from one of the many visits made during my childhood he would have come up with!

The afternoon was full of much feasting, an opportunity for guests to turn the tables and tell stories about JF and DH (such fun!), a surprise serenade by an excellent Elvis impersonator from JF to DH, there was a DJ, a little dancing, and lots of excellent conversation with all the interesting people in attendance.

They had the celebration catered by a local barbecue restaurant. OMG it was so incredibly delicious. I must get the name of the restaurant from them to see if they ship the sauce! They had hand pulled roast pork with a whiskey-molasses sauce. I just had to go back for seconds and was so full but it was so good! Add to that cornbread, salad, coleslaw, and some amazing sweet and spicy baked beans and wow. Just wow. They sent me home with some of the leftover pulled pork and I think it got even better. It was that good.

On Monday I thanked ED profusely for her hospitality (I must mail a thank you gift soon!), and popped over for a quick visit to DH and JF before hitting the road. Despite the fact that it was Labor Day, I once again had a nearly traffic free drive. Unbelievable. And Aussie slept all the way home. She wore herself out with all her yard explorations. Old dogs need their naps and she was just too busy smelling everything to sleep.

I had a wonderful weekend. The weather was perfect. The company was great. And New Hampshire/Vermont is just beautiful. I really wanted the weekend to last longer, but alas, I had work to get back to and massive amounts of email to deal with. Next time I go up for a visit it will definitely be for longer than 3 days.

Cool by association

My parents are divorced. They have been for quite sometime now. They also live in another country, Australia (I'll mention it from time to time). Over 10 years ago, they moved there married, and after being there for a few years, filed for divorce. They both subsequently met native Australians, and decided to stay. So my parents are permanently ex-pats now. They are both happy in their respective relationships. But it's a very odd thing to be in your mid-20s and suddenly end up with step-siblings. All of a sudden I had 2 new step-sisters from my mom's new partner, and 4 step-brothers from my dad's wife (note: brothers are a new thing for my sister and me). And it works. Everybody's happy. But I digress.

This came to mind this morning because my mom's partner is a professor emeritus of religion at a major university. He has a new book out on demonic possession. And in the course of my daily work here at the library with serials, I came across a review of that new book in a new journal title we subscribed to recently.

How perfectly random, yet so incredibly awesome to look at this academic journal, and realize I KNOW one of the big name authors who's books are being reviewed.

Guess that means I'm cool by association. Can I put that on my business card?

New Year's Day Rules

I grew up with a list of New Year's Day superstitions, otherwise known as the Rules. My indoctrination began at a tender age, and New Year's Day just doesn't feel right if I don't follow all of the rules about the day. Most of these, if not all of them, come from my maternal grandmother, a woman raised in the South. So many of these superstitions are common in the South. In the North and West, however, they'll elicit some pretty strange looks from your friends.

Dinner
I spoke about this in a previous post. First, the main course. Eat nothing that scratches backwards. This means no poultry as they scratch backwards at the feed before eating it. Lamb is ok. As is ham or beef. But no poultry. I cannot eat chicken or turkey on New Year's Day without feeling like I'm committing some huge mortal sin.

Next, side dishes. You need to eat your black-eyed peas and greens. The black-eyed peas are for sense/cents. Not sure if it's for common sense or money, but I'll take either in abundance thank you very much. The greens are for dollars (or any money). This is any kind of green vegetable. Growing up it was green beans (probably because they were my sister's favorite veggie), but any greens will work. Just eat lots of it so you get lots of money. As a child I thought this was made up by my mother to get my sister and I to eat more vegetables than we would normally have to. We were good little girls, we always did eat our veggies, but "lots" was pushing it. However, the promise of lots of money during the coming year in exchange for suffering through a big pile of greens is convincing enough for any child. Note: I am still waiting for the big financial return on all those greens I've eaten over the years. Yet, I still eat a big pile of greens every damn year.

To ensure we ate a proper meal on New Year's Day, my grandmother would mail us a can of green beans, a can of black-eyed peas, and a ham (not the canned variety, but rather the preserved and shrink-wrapped kind). Yes, you read that right, mail us our meal. That's some pretty strong rule enforcement. I visited Grandmother for Christmas this year, and she sent me home with ham and a can of black-eyed peas. The only reason I didn't get a can of green beans as well is because I already have a can in my pantry (no lie, and she made me swear to it). She sent me home with them. Just in case I didn't have time to get to the store between Friday and Sunday night to get me some. And you wonder why I'm still following the rules to this day. I'm scared not to.

Laundry
Doing laundry on New Year's Day means that someone will be "washed" out of your life during the coming year, otherwise known as a death in the family. This can be summarized for your friends as: laundry = death.

Activities
Don't do anything the first day of the year you don't want to do the rest of the year. In other words, do the things you want to do. Sleep late. Call your loved ones and friends or better yet, go visit. Catch up on correspondence. Relax. Watch some tv or movies. Whatever you find enjoyable and wouldn't mind being able to do for the rest of the year. And whatever you do, don't spend it on a plane or traveling if at all possible. I flew one year, and spent a large chunk of my time in airports and on planes during the next 365 days. No joke. I also recommend NOT being hungover/sick unless you enjoy that feeling.

Don't pay bills on New Year's Day as this signifies money going out and none coming in. Never a good thing.

Luck
Turning a stool/chair on one leg = bad luck. Don't ask me about this one. I don't know. All I can tell you is that when rotating a chair or stool on New Year's Day, I always, always, pick it up off the floor completely before turning it. Better safe than sorry.

So consider yourself warned and indoctrinated. I can't make you follow the superstitions, all I can do is tell you about them and pray for your soul if you don't follow the New Year's Day Rules.

Holiday traditions: Part 4, entertainment

Besides the trip to cut down the Christmas tree each year, there were always a few activities that come to mind when I think about the holidays.

Jigsaw puzzles
We always had jigsaw puzzles. At every holiday function. And they were holiday themed. Easter ones, Thanksgiving ones, even Valentine's day. But we had several different Christmas ones. And we did them every year. New ones would appear from time to time, but we never stopped doing the old ones. We'd just cycle in the new ones. One in particular I remember was the gingerbread house. There also was a wreath made of dog bones, polar bears (winter themed), Christmas ornaments, and I believe even Santa's workshop to name a few.

We'd designate a table as "the puzzle table" for the entire holiday, and do puzzle after puzzle, with music on in the background. Somehow we never lost a piece. When people would come over for Christmas day dinner, they'd eat, drink hot cider and work on the puzzle, all while talking and having a good time. And of course my sister and I fought over who got to put in the last piece...which meant either Dad or Mom did it instead.

Games
We'd play many a card game as a family. Specifically we played Uno, hearts and pinochle (double deck, 4 players for you card sharks out there). Now these were not the Norman Rockwell everything is merry card games. These were vicious. For example, once I gave my mother the queen of spades during hearts. She turned to me, and said, completely seriously, "bitch, I'm gonna get you for that." And she did. Then next round she nailed me but good, giving me a nasty run of hearts AND the queen of spades, but not enough to shoot the moon. Damn her, I went from first place to third place in ONE hand. But before you call child services, we always had a good time. We'd call each other names and scream and laugh and thoroughly enjoy ourselves. As a family. How many other people can say they had that good of a time just hanging out with their family? My sister and I know we were pretty lucky in that respect.

Movies/TV:
Growing up my sister and I weren't allowed to watch much tv. We were allowed the Muppet Show (a family event), sci-fi with my dad, and PBS. That's about it. So Christmas time was special because it meant we got to stay up late and watch all the special shows. The Charlie Brown Christmas with the pitiful tree, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, John Denver and the Muppets Christmas, other Christmas specials that came out over the years, the parades on TV, and most special of all, the ballet of the Nutcracker with Mikhail Baryshnikov in the title role.

Music
Everyone has their favorite Christmas/holiday music albums. For some people it's carols or pop music, but for us it was an album called "A Brass Christmas," George Winston (both "December" and "Winter into Spring"), and John Denver & the Muppets. Jenna and I danced around the living room to Miss Piggy singing "Christmas is coming" every year. I still have those albums, now on CD rather than vinyl. And it just doesn't feel like Christmas until I play them.

Holiday traditions: Part 2, gifts

My family has a tradition of giving people exactly what they want or need. You give me a list, and you will get something on that list, preferably something that can and will be used. For example, when I started driving, the garage I used had no automatic opener on it. I had to get out of my car, unlock the garage door, open it, get back in my car, and drive in. Now, this is really more of an inconvenience than anything else, but I had a good reason for wanting a garage door opener for Christmas. I was on the swim team in high school. That particular winter was one of the coldest and snowiest on record, which meant that when I got home from practice and got out of the car, my wet hair would freeze solid. Seriously. So, I asked for a garage door opener for Christmas. Dad and I spent Christmas afternoon that year installing it. I was thrilled; my friends thought I was insane.

This practicality extended to gifts from Santa. How many people got underwear from Santa? For some reason I never understood growing up, Santa always brought my dad colorful underwear. Every year Dad got at least three new packs. Santa gifts were usually one big thing and lots of little things like bookmarks and pencils with your name on them. I'm still using those pencils. They're very handy at work where things tend to "walk off" and disappear. Pencils with your name on them always seem to find their way home again.

Opening
My family opened gifts on Christmas Eve. We'd eat dinner, open gifts, and then attend the late night service. My sister and I would pull the gifts out from under the tree and pile them up for each person in a different chair or corner of the couch. We were the "gift elves." Each person sat next to their pile. Remembering which chair/corner was yours was important because Santa left his gifts in the same place. The images you see of people tearing into gifts all at once with paper flying everywhere didn't happen at our house. We actually opened our gifts one at a time, each person taking their turn and paying attention to each person during their turn. I'm amazed that my sister and I had that much patience as kids, but apparently we did. Inevitably, one gift was matching nightclothes for my sister and I, which we would wear that night. The pictures on Christmas morning of us exploring our stockings and Santa gifts always had us in matching nightclothes. Were your Santa gifts wrapped? Ours never were. We each had a pile of Santa gifts in our designated space. My sister and I were different enough it was never hard to tell which pile belonged to whom.

Thank you notes
We wrote thank you cards. One of the...umm...benefits of us opening gifts one at a time is that someone could keep a list for each person of what they got and from whom. The few days after Christmas my sister and I would spend a little time each day writing thank you notes, whether we liked the gift or not. Somewhere over the years I got out of this habit...but shh...don't tell my mother. She'd be apalled. [Hi, Mom!]

Animal mischief
Hazards of wrapped gifts generally involved the cat and curling ribbon. She loved curling ribbon. She'd chew on it, eat it, and generally massacre any curling ribbon she could find, including ribbon still on the roll! We had to make sure any gift with curling ribbon under the tree was under another gift so she couldn't get to it. She also had a blast playing with the wrapping paper after we opened gifts. That, to her, was an awesome gift. A big pile of crinkled up paper and paper balls to attack and spaz out in. And don't forget the boxes to hide in. A kitty dream, I tell you.

Wish lists
We all keep wish lists. You know you do. Even if you never write it down you have a list in your head of things you'd love to have. My sister and I would spend hours going over the big toy book from whatever department store we got it from. It was sad the day Sears discontinued their Wish Book. I have many a fond memory of me, my sister, that book, and a marker for circling the things we wanted. As kids, our gifts weren't nearly as practical, but as we got older, they became more so, although there was always that one thing on the list just because you wanted it, no practicality necessary.

Now I keep my wish list on line via Amazon. With friends and family scattered all over the globe, it's the easiest way to let people know what I'm interested in. My wish lists usally consist of things I'd love to have and that I would use, but that I'd probably never buy for myself. And of course, it's not just one big unorganized list, but rather multiple lists, each with a different theme: DVDs, kitchen, music, etc. [Before you pick on me, remember, I organize things for a living. It's what catalogers, us librarians maintaining the library catalog, do.] I try to get my friends to give their wish lists as well. Sometimes I find that perfect gift that's not on their wish list (the things you see that just "scream" that person), but usually I stick to the list.

What kind of gifts do you give? Practical or just fun stuff?

Holiday traditions: Part 1, the tree

What kind of traditions does your family have? Or do you have any? It's always interesting to hear what my friends did growing up.

In my family, we had several traditions. Nice ones, in my opinion. These centered around certain things: gifts, food, entertainment, the tree, and, well, miscellaneous (some things you just can't categorize...which drives the OCD librarian in me nuts!). I'll break this up into a few posts, to keep it manageable.

The Tree

We always cut our own tree. Always. And we were often the last family on the block to have our tree up, as we'd wait until two weekends before Christmas to go get the tree. We'd bundle up and head out as a family either on Saturday or Sunday afternoon to a local tree farm and find the perfect tree. After one of us (Dad when we were young) crawled on the ground to cut the tree down, we'd carry it back to have it shook (pine needle shower!) and bagged (netted?) and tie it to the top of the car with the trunk facing front for aerodynamics and so the wind didn't harm the branches. We always used the same blanket for this...a striped picnic blanket. I still have that blanket in the back of my car, and it still has pine sap on it, despite the repeated washings. While we waited, there was hot cider or cocoa to drink and things to see or animals to pet and play with. Sometimes there were local crafts to look at (and buy if desired). We often got different types of pine, but it was always the same routine, no matter where we lived. One year we found a tree whose cones were still attached. They had opened, releasing their seeds, but the cones held on instead of falling. We tied little red ribbons around the top of each cone, effectively turning them into nature-made ornaments.

We'd get the tree home, and put together the stand and get the tree up. This involved my sister, Mom and myself standing in three different places around the room checking to make sure it was straight and Dad holding the trunk and somehow not losing his patience with us all three giving him directions at once. Mom spread an old sheet down first, to catch some of the needles. This sheet would eventually be hidden by the tree skirt, but for the first few days the tree stood, undecorated so it could relax and acclimate, in the living or family room with an old sheet beneath it. It looked a bit undignified, but the house smelled fantastic. There's nothing like a fresh tree.

Part of the reason we got our tree so late is so that it would last the full 12 days of Christmas. It never came down until that 12th day, when the 3 magi arrived at the manger. This is Janurary 5th. So our tree may have gone up later than everyone elses, but it stayed up long past when everyone took theirs down. I remember the Christmas tree carnage up and down the street, usually around the 1st of the year.

Once the tree had relaxed and become acclimated to the warmer house, the decorating began. This was usually a few days after the tree arrived. Dad put the lights up, atleast 3 strings, covering every inch of the tree with little lights. There were never blinking lights in our house...they gave us all headaches and tormented the cat and dog.

Then came the ornaments. Ornaments in our house were special. Each year my sister and I got to pick out a new ornament, representing something from the previous year that we did, an important event, or an interest/hobby. We each had our own box, and we'd pull out the ornaments one by one and line them up in chronological order. Mom had stuck little lables to the bottom of each one with our first initial and the year (if it wasn't on the ornament) to keep them separated. It was fascinating to look at them over the years and see how our interests had changed, or not as the case may be (three years in a row I chose ornaments involving a swing). The purpose behind this tradition of an ornament every year was simple: this way my sister and I would have enough ornaments to decorate our own tree when we moved out on our own. As we got older, some years involved two or three ornaments. Often we'd start a series from Hallmark and continue to get the series but still get a separate ornament for the year. My mom and dad each had their own ornaments to add to the tree as well. As did our "adopted" family member, Marjean. She spent every Christmas with us, and had her own ornaments and stocking.

The result of these many different collections of ornaments was a very eclectic and colorful tree. When we were younger and didn't have very many, we had the traditional ornaments (balls and snowflakes) to fill in the gaps, but by the time we were both in high school we often had trouble finding space for all of our personal ornaments. We never had themed trees. Well, I guess our tree was a theme...it showed how while we were all very very different, we could come together and despite our differences make something beautiful. I loved looking at our tree and seeing each of us represented on it.

Last came the tree topper: a brass 3-D star. It wasn't solid, but rather two flat stars that slid together to form the 3-D one. It was all intricately carved out and the lights reflected off of it beautifully. Since my sister was born in an odd year and me in an even year, we'd trade off who got to put the topper on (with Dad's help, of course); even years it was me, odd years it was her. [A very simple way to prevent fighting, no? Mom used this even/odd trick for all sorts of things, including chores like dishes.] With animals, other tree "finishers" like popcorn chains were out of the question. And we weren't a garland family, but we used to do icicles (those plastic silver metallic things you had to separate and drape individually over branches that static clung to everything), until the year we found out they could kill our pets. Not to worry, this wasn't found out the hard way, but rather via the news.

It's funny, I've been out of the house for over a decade now and yet I still continue the tradition of getting a new ornament every year. I have a little mini fake tree (3 feet) that I put up, so now I have not only a collection of regular sized ornaments, but mini ones as well. It even has a mini version of our star tree topper that my mom found one year. My tree, small or large, continues to be eclectic, and I wouldn't have it any other way.