so that was christmas
This year, for the first time, N and I had our own Christmas tree! In the last year that we lived in London, it felt like I ran constantly into gorgeous tree ornaments that I couldn't possibly resist buying (quite likely because I wanted to bring as much of London with me as possible), and so we needed a tree. And since we're considering getting cats in the near future, and everyone knows how well those go with a Christmas tree, clearly this was the year to do it.
I was busy most evenings leading up to Christmas, so N had to go get the tree without me, though luckily he has his mum and sister to help him out picking it (and carrying it home!) Instead of the usual spruce, he brought home a fir tree, which is much bushier and has a thicker trunk. The latter so much so that we had to exchange the tree stand once for a bigger one, and even then we had to saw a couple of centimetres off the sides of the bottom of the trunk to make it fit!
Christmas Eve went by without any major drama. We had a late morning, and then around noon headed off to N's mum's for some rice pudding. Afterwards N stayed there with his family, while I took the car to my parents' place. It's handy that we're from the same city, so there's no hassle around where to spend Christmas or major travel involved.
I had Christmas dinner with my parents, followed by gifts, after which a taxi came to take my mother back to the care facility. It was a good thing, too, because she was starting to nod off after just a couple of hours. I got the usual gift card and chocolate from my father, and my mother got me a colouring book and pens. I think I've mentioned it before, but due to my mother's brain damage and short term memory problems, gifts from her range from insightful to the downright bizarre. This year she got closer to the insightful end of the spectrum, as I think I'll at least give colouring a try.
I drove dad to his presumed lady friend (he's never officially said so, but he's been spending all his time elsewhere for years), and headed back to N's family for more presents (poor things have to hold off opening them until I get there).
No real news to report there, either. I got N some X-Wing figurines that were on his wish list (boring) and a different brand of miniature armoured bear figure that he'd mentioned months ago, so at least it wasn't completely predictable. When you get to this age and can buy most things you desire yourself, gift giving gets a bit silly, unless you can really surprise the other person by something they haven't thought of.
N got me a gift certificate to a skin analysis that I've been wanting and a brilliant 3D-printed Bulbasaur planter, his sister hot chocolate (for some reason?), one of those awesomely creepy skeleton candls and the traditional Ferrero Rocher that I love, and his mother... a gym membership.
Now, N's mother has always been really lovely and friendly towards me, and it's the gym she goes to herself and loves, plus we had been discussing me joining it once I was employed again, so I have all the reason to believe she had very kind intentions, but it's still a pretty "..umm" type of gift to give unless it's specifically been asked for. I didn't think too much about it yesterday, but apparently it fucked with my head more than I realised because today, when we went by again, I didn't feel comfortable eating any treats after dinner. And then when I finally did grab a tart and take a bite, N made an innocent, yet unfortunate, comment about me eating directly from the serving plate, and I burst into tears and had to dash off into a bathroom to get myself under control. N was upset that I was upset and said he'd talk to his mother, but I told him not to, because I'm sure she didn't have any malicious intentions and I don't want her to feel bad.
To balance things out, her other gift to us was really nice. The communal sauna in our building has been under renovations since we moved back, so we've only just gotten our own slot on the schedule and started going. It's been good, but I complained to N that we lack all the necessities, such as nice big bag to take our stuff there (the sauna is in the basement) and cloths to sit on. We got all that, a sauna pillow, and even drinks! So that was really nice, and I'll try to get my head straight around the gym issue.
Tomorrow we've been invited to visit N's aunt, and after that it's back to business.
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. You can also comment there using OpenID.
I was busy most evenings leading up to Christmas, so N had to go get the tree without me, though luckily he has his mum and sister to help him out picking it (and carrying it home!) Instead of the usual spruce, he brought home a fir tree, which is much bushier and has a thicker trunk. The latter so much so that we had to exchange the tree stand once for a bigger one, and even then we had to saw a couple of centimetres off the sides of the bottom of the trunk to make it fit!
Christmas Eve went by without any major drama. We had a late morning, and then around noon headed off to N's mum's for some rice pudding. Afterwards N stayed there with his family, while I took the car to my parents' place. It's handy that we're from the same city, so there's no hassle around where to spend Christmas or major travel involved.
I had Christmas dinner with my parents, followed by gifts, after which a taxi came to take my mother back to the care facility. It was a good thing, too, because she was starting to nod off after just a couple of hours. I got the usual gift card and chocolate from my father, and my mother got me a colouring book and pens. I think I've mentioned it before, but due to my mother's brain damage and short term memory problems, gifts from her range from insightful to the downright bizarre. This year she got closer to the insightful end of the spectrum, as I think I'll at least give colouring a try.
I drove dad to his presumed lady friend (he's never officially said so, but he's been spending all his time elsewhere for years), and headed back to N's family for more presents (poor things have to hold off opening them until I get there).
No real news to report there, either. I got N some X-Wing figurines that were on his wish list (boring) and a different brand of miniature armoured bear figure that he'd mentioned months ago, so at least it wasn't completely predictable. When you get to this age and can buy most things you desire yourself, gift giving gets a bit silly, unless you can really surprise the other person by something they haven't thought of.
N got me a gift certificate to a skin analysis that I've been wanting and a brilliant 3D-printed Bulbasaur planter, his sister hot chocolate (for some reason?), one of those awesomely creepy skeleton candls and the traditional Ferrero Rocher that I love, and his mother... a gym membership.
Now, N's mother has always been really lovely and friendly towards me, and it's the gym she goes to herself and loves, plus we had been discussing me joining it once I was employed again, so I have all the reason to believe she had very kind intentions, but it's still a pretty "..umm" type of gift to give unless it's specifically been asked for. I didn't think too much about it yesterday, but apparently it fucked with my head more than I realised because today, when we went by again, I didn't feel comfortable eating any treats after dinner. And then when I finally did grab a tart and take a bite, N made an innocent, yet unfortunate, comment about me eating directly from the serving plate, and I burst into tears and had to dash off into a bathroom to get myself under control. N was upset that I was upset and said he'd talk to his mother, but I told him not to, because I'm sure she didn't have any malicious intentions and I don't want her to feel bad.
To balance things out, her other gift to us was really nice. The communal sauna in our building has been under renovations since we moved back, so we've only just gotten our own slot on the schedule and started going. It's been good, but I complained to N that we lack all the necessities, such as nice big bag to take our stuff there (the sauna is in the basement) and cloths to sit on. We got all that, a sauna pillow, and even drinks! So that was really nice, and I'll try to get my head straight around the gym issue.
Tomorrow we've been invited to visit N's aunt, and after that it's back to business.
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. You can also comment there using OpenID.