White Christmas, 2002
Well, Christmas seems to have been a success this year. I have a dog kennel in the middle of my room, but more on that later. No huge fights, lots o' gifts, good food, and a splendid time for all. The mystery of Great Aunt Tilly's antique chairs remains unresolved (yes, it seems I really did have a Great Aunt Tilly. How I never knew this is beyond me), but aside from that, it had been a good day.
Anyhow. Santa Paws was very good to all of us, especially Roxie, as she now seems to be residing in my bedroom. Poor thing's probably been waiting years for this, but I'm still not convinced she's entirely trustworthy in the house-broken arena. Still, ever since Peter's visit, she has been near impossible to get into a kennel at night. Last night she was shaking and shivering and generally having a nervous breakdown around "bed-time," so we bandied about with the idea of letting her sleep upstairs. We got as far as the word "upstairs," and she was up them. Waited outside my bedroom door for me, actually. But, due to my fairly new carpet and the aforementioned house-training lapses, we decided to put a kennel up here just in case. Will she go near it? Heck no; she's hogging the bed. I had a whole two feet of mattress last night. My neck is still killing me.
Where was I? Oh, yes, Christmas pressies. We have a new computer. Not hooked up yet, but we have one. We also have a new DVD player (two actually; one's in the new 'puter). What better to play my new DVDs on? This is Spinal Tap Special Edition and Babylon 5: The Gathering/In the Beginning. Whee! Also received a Rolling Stones CD (one of those "Greatest Hits"-type jobbies, which isn't a bad deal!), two sweater sets, a red turtleneck, a pretty bracelet, a giant hanging jewelry bag to put it in, a black pocketbook, a CD holder which only held half the amount of the one I needed to replace, money & gift certificates, and red suede shoes.
Grandma got socks. Dad got socks. I did not get socks. Once again, people insisted on giving me gift certificates to buy books. But as I now have $100 to spend in Barnes & Noble, I ain't complainin'. Will be making a list shortly, so if anyone has "Must Read" suggestions, now would be a good time to let me know....
Doggies had an excellent time with their morning. First off, there was loverly wet snow for them to roll in (lucky we live on the East Coast, otherwise we'd still be digging them out), and then they had a ball opening presents. Honestly, it was the high point of my day. Every year, Mom shakes the gifts and makes a big deal of getting them to rip 'em open, and Carly takes all the toys and hoardes them behind the rocker. This year, Tessie decided to open the gifts herself, and man, I have never seen paper fly like that. Naturally, her daughter still took the toys and hid them, which meant that Tessie shredded the paper to bits and tossed it about like confetti. I hope the pictures turn out... The only problem (aside from having to clean it all up) was that this year, Mom bought them all "Christmasy" toys. A reindeer that sings "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." A snowman that sings "Frosty the Snowman." An elf (already nicknamed Legolas) that sings "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." An X-mas tree that sings... Well, you get the idea. There are 5 or 6 in all, they each play a different tune, and frequently, all at the same time. Mother, what were you thinking?
Dinner, also, went off without too many hitches (unless you count the supreme mortification brought on by relatives whose favourite topic of mealtime conversation is intestinal gas). There was far too much food, but it included avgolemono, really good gravy, and mince pie. All of which I will tell you about tomorrow--
Damn. Is no longer Christmas. Happy Boxing Day, all
--as I am very tired and must work in the morning. And I'm keeping the dog up. She doesn't seem happy about this.
Oh, and lest I forget, Happy Birthday, Queen madhuri567!!
Anyhow. Santa Paws was very good to all of us, especially Roxie, as she now seems to be residing in my bedroom. Poor thing's probably been waiting years for this, but I'm still not convinced she's entirely trustworthy in the house-broken arena. Still, ever since Peter's visit, she has been near impossible to get into a kennel at night. Last night she was shaking and shivering and generally having a nervous breakdown around "bed-time," so we bandied about with the idea of letting her sleep upstairs. We got as far as the word "upstairs," and she was up them. Waited outside my bedroom door for me, actually. But, due to my fairly new carpet and the aforementioned house-training lapses, we decided to put a kennel up here just in case. Will she go near it? Heck no; she's hogging the bed. I had a whole two feet of mattress last night. My neck is still killing me.
Where was I? Oh, yes, Christmas pressies. We have a new computer. Not hooked up yet, but we have one. We also have a new DVD player (two actually; one's in the new 'puter). What better to play my new DVDs on? This is Spinal Tap Special Edition and Babylon 5: The Gathering/In the Beginning. Whee! Also received a Rolling Stones CD (one of those "Greatest Hits"-type jobbies, which isn't a bad deal!), two sweater sets, a red turtleneck, a pretty bracelet, a giant hanging jewelry bag to put it in, a black pocketbook, a CD holder which only held half the amount of the one I needed to replace, money & gift certificates, and red suede shoes.
Grandma got socks. Dad got socks. I did not get socks. Once again, people insisted on giving me gift certificates to buy books. But as I now have $100 to spend in Barnes & Noble, I ain't complainin'. Will be making a list shortly, so if anyone has "Must Read" suggestions, now would be a good time to let me know....
Doggies had an excellent time with their morning. First off, there was loverly wet snow for them to roll in (lucky we live on the East Coast, otherwise we'd still be digging them out), and then they had a ball opening presents. Honestly, it was the high point of my day. Every year, Mom shakes the gifts and makes a big deal of getting them to rip 'em open, and Carly takes all the toys and hoardes them behind the rocker. This year, Tessie decided to open the gifts herself, and man, I have never seen paper fly like that. Naturally, her daughter still took the toys and hid them, which meant that Tessie shredded the paper to bits and tossed it about like confetti. I hope the pictures turn out... The only problem (aside from having to clean it all up) was that this year, Mom bought them all "Christmasy" toys. A reindeer that sings "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." A snowman that sings "Frosty the Snowman." An elf (already nicknamed Legolas) that sings "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." An X-mas tree that sings... Well, you get the idea. There are 5 or 6 in all, they each play a different tune, and frequently, all at the same time. Mother, what were you thinking?
Dinner, also, went off without too many hitches (unless you count the supreme mortification brought on by relatives whose favourite topic of mealtime conversation is intestinal gas). There was far too much food, but it included avgolemono, really good gravy, and mince pie. All of which I will tell you about tomorrow--
Damn. Is no longer Christmas. Happy Boxing Day, all
--as I am very tired and must work in the morning. And I'm keeping the dog up. She doesn't seem happy about this.
Oh, and lest I forget, Happy Birthday, Queen madhuri567!!