Christmas, the sequel

You would think that after the previous entry, our Christmas story for the year would be over. In fact, we had one more nice day of Christmas to go; bringing Forest's and my total to 4, and Kirstin's to a whopping 8 Christmas get-togethers. Yes, Kirstin just about qualifies for a Hannukah. Anyway; we all managed to sleep in on Tuesday, which was wonderful. Kirstin didn't get up until nearly 8:30, which is a major sleep-in for her, and Forest and I didn't follow her until nearly 9:30. Rested and relaxed, we all took part of the morning to enjoy yesterday's new toys. Kirstin played with the taekwondo outfit we had gotten for her doll, and lounged around in her new fleece pyjamas. Forest tried on all his stuff; and I heated up gooey cinnamon rolls for all of us. Kirstin even spent part of her morning cleaning her room, which was awfully good-spirited of her.

We were all in great moods and ready for more family by the time we hit the road for my dad's.

It used to be that the trip to my dad's was the real voyage of the year. His house is in West Bloomfield, and it's a treacherous, winding, icy drive through a lake-filled lowland to get there. This year, however, such bravery was not required. Dad and Suzi hosted us at their nice new condo in Charlotte. It's little, but perfect for their purposes, and they have gone all-out with decorations and remodelling to make it their own. Somehow Forest, Kirstin and I managed to be the first guests there; the only ones to make it on time! We were so proud of ourselves that we indulged in a little private gloat. We really were a lot better organized this year, and managed to get through the whole holiday without making anyone upset by being tardy or absent. It was fantastic. Dad and Suzi gave us the tour of their little place, and I was impressed with all the work they've been doing. My dad put hardwood floors in, singlehandedly. They are beautiful and shiny, and smooth. I joked that we could put them in our house, but they would have a lot more texture. Indeed, wood flooring in our house would be rather like a stairway here and there. Our floors aren't really flat.

I actually envy my dad and Karen and Jim's ability to do stuff like that. There are many things I would like to do to fix up my house, but I haven't got the time, first of all, or the money (an important second.) I guess I've been devoting my resources to the wedding, and haven't had them to spend elsewhere, if I'm to be honest. None of this stuff is cheap. All of that aside, I frequently envy Karen and Jim's TIME. They have GOBS of it. Right now they're both on winter break, and will be doing a lot of skiing. Last summer they spent a month travelling. I sort of wish I could figure out a way to get a lifestyle with more time in it like that.

Then again, knowing myself, I'd fill all that spare time within a day of getting it; just like if I got a 20 percent raise I would probably spend it all in the first month. I'm terrible that way. Maybe when I win more control over my life I will be rewarded with the tons of spare time I would love to have.

The time at my dad and Suzi's was nice and relaxing. As usual, we talked a little about what everyone had been doing. That's always fun with Jim, who has been smashing atoms, and making compounds, and all sorts of neat stuff like that. Suzi had made a really tasty dinner, which we all really enjoyed. She's a great cook, and does something to her ham that I don't understand, but I love it! Forest doesn't typically have much enthusiasm for holiday meats; turkey and ham don't usually thrill him; but he enjoyed it, too. There was a great green bean and cheddar casserole, and jello, always a winner!

After dinner we opened gifts, and I was suprised to find a certificate for a stay in a B&B in Petosky. That was really cool of them! Forest and I will probably wait until it's warm outside to use ours; Petosky is only 35 miles from Mackinaw, so I might even arrange a minivacation; to stay on a Friday night at the place in Petosky, and then make check-in at the Cloghaun on Saturday afternoon! It would be a lovely weekend; and what's really cool is that in spring Forest won't have to work weekends anymore. Woo hoo!

I digress. Kirstin was thrilled with the craft stuff she got, and immediately started to make things for everyone. She took a break while we played a game of Clue, but mostly spent her time cutting out shapes and making things with her rubber stamps.

After my dad's get-together, we decided to finally take Kirstin to see The Grinch, which we'd been trying to do for some time, and kept running into obstacles. Once again, it wasn't in the cards. We got to the theatre twenty minutes after the show had started. Kirstin immediately decided that the Emperor's New Groove was a must-see. Forest and I really had no interest in it, but since it was either that or Rugrats in Paris, we agreed to suffer through it. Neither of us was really interested in a story about a llama.

We got our popcorn and soda, and made our way into the theatre early, in order to get our favorite seats, and munched popcorn for a while before the previews started. Once again, I was suprised and pleased to see how mature Kirstin was. She was able to wait patiently for the movie for nearly 20 minutes without needing to be prompted to behave. She really is growing up fast. I don't think I'll be able to call her a little girl very much longer.

It turned out that the movie was a lot of fun! Despite our dread, Forest and I both knew we would enjoy it within the first few minutes, when it turned out to be fast-paced and slapsticky and sarcastically funny. This wasn't high Disney artwork; but it was just plain a lot of fun, and from the sounds of things, our compatriots in the audience agreed. Our family certainly had a good time.

After the movie, we took Kirstin home, eyeing the schedules of all the shows we want to see in the next month or so. There are quite a few on our lists. Forest wants to see Dracula, though, which looks way too scary for me. I think I'll go see Castaway while he's seeing that one. He doesn't like Tom Hanks, anyway. (I know, he's crazy. He's still holding Forrest Gump against Mr. Hanks.)

Once again, the bold adventurers went home to a snack of pizza rolls, and then one of them into a hot bath, and the other under the comforter; each with a good book. I know, we're not very exciting, but it's one of our favorite ways to spend an evening.

At any rate, this is Wednesday, and I am back at work, such as it is. (And it isn't much.) There is practically no one here today; we have a three-day week this week, and another one next week for Christmas. A lot of people took advantage of that to take a long vacation. One of these years, when Forest isn't working like mad through this season, maybe I will do the same thing. It's nice to have four free days off in a two-week period.

Actually, I think this holiday season went a lot more smoothly than last year's did. This year, Forest preserved Sundays for himself; he never worked a single Sunday, except for Christmas Eve, which really didn't mean much, since we arranged it so we would both work that day. We were both just plain more sane this year; there wasn't the level of stress from the last one, and we weren't both permanently exhausted. I think this was a big step for us in learning how we need to plan our lives with each other. We both know now that we need one day per week, minimum, just to keep our heads.