Christmas 2006
Christmas 2006-“The first Christmas as a married couple”
It didn’t feel any different. It was still full of love, joy, passion and peace. Having all that with my best friend & lover who happens to be my husband is a huge bonus.
Recap of the weekend:
Friday I worked, barely. The office closed at 1 and the few hours leading up to then was literally just a lot of goofing off. Someone for WLS sent out a “Wear your ugliest holiday sweater” memo out the week before and many people in the building participated. There were some FUGLY ones, lemme tell ya. It makes me wonder why people own the hideous things. But, for $100 prize, they were not shy about modeling them. The chick that won the cash really did have the worst sweater ever-it had silver bells ALL over it and was the ugliest shade of Christmas red ever. Oh yeah- and it was 2 sizes too big for her. All of us at RD overdosed on the random junk food our clients sent us; I went home with a tummy ache.
From work I took the train of to the Ville to hang out with Erich with Steve. Portillo’s didn’t help the tummy ache and then meeting Michelle, Joseph & Rob for ice cream put me over the sugar buzz edge. There were some laughs at the ice cream joint, but mostly I was quiet. I didn’t know my Christmas depression was going to hit. But it did. HARD.
Erich went to eat dinner with his family while Steve & I drove around, planning on hanging out with him when he was done. I don’t know if it was the quietness of the car ride or what, but I starting thinking and thinking and thinking and before I knew it I was missing Ma. Then I started remembering and remembering and remembering and I was missing Dad. And then I started crying and the tears just kept coming. Poor Steve didn’t know what to say or do, so he just kept driving around in circles. After an hour, he finally just drove home. Eventually I stopped thinking and remembering and crying, only because Steve was there. Without him, I’d still be thinking and remembering and crying.
Saturday we went to Gramma’s and hung out for a lilbit. Her and Granpa continue to be our favorite people, so the time there was golden. Jesse was there visiting, too. And, great news! After me showing him the good way to tie his shoes, he can do it! I’m so proud!
Steve and I went to the Bulls game that night. I don’t remember ever being that entertained at a sporting event before. They really keep the crowd interested and engaged throughout the game. Besides the clumsy asshole sitting behind me spilling nachos on my back, the night was a blast. I like dating.
Sunday was Mexican Christmas. Steve, Phil and I went to my aunt’s house with the rest of my Mexican family and made, yep, tamales. Oh man- best food ever. For those of you who don’t know, tamales are a lot, a lot of work. Gramma is pretty picky when it comes to making them and you need to be trained by her to help make them. I, apparently, have a natural talent for tamale making and was recruited to finished the last half of the hundreds of tamales. My shoulders and hands were aching by the end of it, but when I finally got to eat one it was all worth it. Mmmmm… Sitting around and doing nothing with my cousins was just ok. No big deal there.
When Steve & I got home we gave Sully his Christmas gift so he’d leave us alone while we exchanged ours. That dog rather have the wrapping paper and boxes from our gifts than the new awesome bones we got him. Oh well. I gave Steve a black cashmere sweater with his initials embroidered on the chest all fancy like. With that, he got a no iron, fitted, white dress shirt with his initials on the sleeve cuff. Handkerchiefs with an embroidered “S”, some belts, and PJ pants rounded out my gifts to him. I know, we’re old and he got all clothes from me. He liked it all though, and that’s what counts. He got me a buncha things-the obligatory Hello Kitty calendar, VS gift certificate, some DVDs, and a sweet case for my iPod. When I opened the case, I noticed that it didn’t have holes for my iPod keys (I have an OLD generation.) When I told him that he handed me another box. Uh-oh. In it was the newest iPod. Holy crap- Video! 80 gigs! I cried. I was so surprised! I’m sad to see my old iPod go, but it would barely charge anymore, the old-school green screen was barely readable and my laptop wouldn’t even recognize it anymore. I’m usually REALLY good (bad) with knowing my gifts but I totally didn’t see the iPod coming, especially the 80 gig. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. I’m used to getting clothes and a buncha lil things as gifts. This was beyond any other gifts I’ve ever gotten. Some may not see getting an iPod as sweet, but rather cliché. But if you know Steve then you know how hard is was for him to hand THAT over to ME. He’s the tech-geek with a million CDs. From him, it was a really sweet gesture to buy me something I would never ever buy myself. Thanks again, baby. I love it almost as much as I love you.
Monday we woke up and played with Sully before going to Mass. Have I mentioned that I LOVE LOVE LOVE sitting in my Father’s house with my husband? It’s an unexplainable amazing feeling of wholeness. Next Christmas, as I whispered to Steve, it’d be nice to be sitting in the windowed room at the back of church. ;-) He smiled very, very wide.
We, with Phil, got to Steve’s sister’s house by 1 and hung out for a bit before opening gifts with his parents, sister, brother-in-law and niece. I’m positive everyone likes the gifts we gave them-gift cards galore for Phil, Wicked tickets for the parents and Matt & Amanda, and toys, a bracelet and movies for Delaney. Steve & I got these gorgeous metal books/cases for wedding photos and CD/DVD with bride & groom Mickey & Minnie engraved on the fronts with our wedding date. I LOVE them. After gifts, Steve, Phil & I hung out with Delaney in the basement (sans cats) while everyone else was upstairs in the kitchen. We felt left out, but made the best out of the situation by playing with Delaney. With her new babydoll, the three of us took roles and played with her. Adorable. Dr. Fell, as Laney calls him, was totally cute interacting with her. The kid’s smart and has a lot of her own personality and it never ceases to amaze her uncle Steve. At one point, when dinner upstairs was causing the house smoke alarms to go off, Laney said, “That’s okay. It’s just my mom.” We all cracked up. Good times. Dinner and dessert was good. Totally exhausted at 7pm, we headed home cuz the cats started to get to me afterall and I had to work the next morning.
And that’s it. The long Christmas weekend recap. Thanks to all who were a part of my Christmas.
This weekend: New Year’s! Yay! I’m excited about our party and to all those who are coming you rock. Looking like we’re gonna have a damn good turn out so casino night will be better than we could’ve planned.
It didn’t feel any different. It was still full of love, joy, passion and peace. Having all that with my best friend & lover who happens to be my husband is a huge bonus.
Recap of the weekend:
Friday I worked, barely. The office closed at 1 and the few hours leading up to then was literally just a lot of goofing off. Someone for WLS sent out a “Wear your ugliest holiday sweater” memo out the week before and many people in the building participated. There were some FUGLY ones, lemme tell ya. It makes me wonder why people own the hideous things. But, for $100 prize, they were not shy about modeling them. The chick that won the cash really did have the worst sweater ever-it had silver bells ALL over it and was the ugliest shade of Christmas red ever. Oh yeah- and it was 2 sizes too big for her. All of us at RD overdosed on the random junk food our clients sent us; I went home with a tummy ache.
From work I took the train of to the Ville to hang out with Erich with Steve. Portillo’s didn’t help the tummy ache and then meeting Michelle, Joseph & Rob for ice cream put me over the sugar buzz edge. There were some laughs at the ice cream joint, but mostly I was quiet. I didn’t know my Christmas depression was going to hit. But it did. HARD.
Erich went to eat dinner with his family while Steve & I drove around, planning on hanging out with him when he was done. I don’t know if it was the quietness of the car ride or what, but I starting thinking and thinking and thinking and before I knew it I was missing Ma. Then I started remembering and remembering and remembering and I was missing Dad. And then I started crying and the tears just kept coming. Poor Steve didn’t know what to say or do, so he just kept driving around in circles. After an hour, he finally just drove home. Eventually I stopped thinking and remembering and crying, only because Steve was there. Without him, I’d still be thinking and remembering and crying.
Saturday we went to Gramma’s and hung out for a lilbit. Her and Granpa continue to be our favorite people, so the time there was golden. Jesse was there visiting, too. And, great news! After me showing him the good way to tie his shoes, he can do it! I’m so proud!
Steve and I went to the Bulls game that night. I don’t remember ever being that entertained at a sporting event before. They really keep the crowd interested and engaged throughout the game. Besides the clumsy asshole sitting behind me spilling nachos on my back, the night was a blast. I like dating.
Sunday was Mexican Christmas. Steve, Phil and I went to my aunt’s house with the rest of my Mexican family and made, yep, tamales. Oh man- best food ever. For those of you who don’t know, tamales are a lot, a lot of work. Gramma is pretty picky when it comes to making them and you need to be trained by her to help make them. I, apparently, have a natural talent for tamale making and was recruited to finished the last half of the hundreds of tamales. My shoulders and hands were aching by the end of it, but when I finally got to eat one it was all worth it. Mmmmm… Sitting around and doing nothing with my cousins was just ok. No big deal there.
When Steve & I got home we gave Sully his Christmas gift so he’d leave us alone while we exchanged ours. That dog rather have the wrapping paper and boxes from our gifts than the new awesome bones we got him. Oh well. I gave Steve a black cashmere sweater with his initials embroidered on the chest all fancy like. With that, he got a no iron, fitted, white dress shirt with his initials on the sleeve cuff. Handkerchiefs with an embroidered “S”, some belts, and PJ pants rounded out my gifts to him. I know, we’re old and he got all clothes from me. He liked it all though, and that’s what counts. He got me a buncha things-the obligatory Hello Kitty calendar, VS gift certificate, some DVDs, and a sweet case for my iPod. When I opened the case, I noticed that it didn’t have holes for my iPod keys (I have an OLD generation.) When I told him that he handed me another box. Uh-oh. In it was the newest iPod. Holy crap- Video! 80 gigs! I cried. I was so surprised! I’m sad to see my old iPod go, but it would barely charge anymore, the old-school green screen was barely readable and my laptop wouldn’t even recognize it anymore. I’m usually REALLY good (bad) with knowing my gifts but I totally didn’t see the iPod coming, especially the 80 gig. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. I’m used to getting clothes and a buncha lil things as gifts. This was beyond any other gifts I’ve ever gotten. Some may not see getting an iPod as sweet, but rather cliché. But if you know Steve then you know how hard is was for him to hand THAT over to ME. He’s the tech-geek with a million CDs. From him, it was a really sweet gesture to buy me something I would never ever buy myself. Thanks again, baby. I love it almost as much as I love you.
Monday we woke up and played with Sully before going to Mass. Have I mentioned that I LOVE LOVE LOVE sitting in my Father’s house with my husband? It’s an unexplainable amazing feeling of wholeness. Next Christmas, as I whispered to Steve, it’d be nice to be sitting in the windowed room at the back of church. ;-) He smiled very, very wide.
We, with Phil, got to Steve’s sister’s house by 1 and hung out for a bit before opening gifts with his parents, sister, brother-in-law and niece. I’m positive everyone likes the gifts we gave them-gift cards galore for Phil, Wicked tickets for the parents and Matt & Amanda, and toys, a bracelet and movies for Delaney. Steve & I got these gorgeous metal books/cases for wedding photos and CD/DVD with bride & groom Mickey & Minnie engraved on the fronts with our wedding date. I LOVE them. After gifts, Steve, Phil & I hung out with Delaney in the basement (sans cats) while everyone else was upstairs in the kitchen. We felt left out, but made the best out of the situation by playing with Delaney. With her new babydoll, the three of us took roles and played with her. Adorable. Dr. Fell, as Laney calls him, was totally cute interacting with her. The kid’s smart and has a lot of her own personality and it never ceases to amaze her uncle Steve. At one point, when dinner upstairs was causing the house smoke alarms to go off, Laney said, “That’s okay. It’s just my mom.” We all cracked up. Good times. Dinner and dessert was good. Totally exhausted at 7pm, we headed home cuz the cats started to get to me afterall and I had to work the next morning.
And that’s it. The long Christmas weekend recap. Thanks to all who were a part of my Christmas.
This weekend: New Year’s! Yay! I’m excited about our party and to all those who are coming you rock. Looking like we’re gonna have a damn good turn out so casino night will be better than we could’ve planned.