Happy Christmahanukwanzakah!
Home. Not dead.
I've finally put 3/4 of the Christmas goodies away and have decided to sit for a minute and breathe before going to bed. It was a nice holiday, all told. We got to the Lakehouse around 9 Friday night and I went to bed at 11. I usually have a hard time falling asleep in weird beds but I was so tired, I was out like a light. I got up around 11 on Saturday morning and then Chris, Meg and I ventured out to get a tree and finish up some shopping. We first hit up Hudson to get my in-laws a gift certificate to Baba Louie's (but they were all out...WTF?!) and we passed the most perfect tree in the whole world. You can see it here after it was moved into the house and decorated. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon in and out of various Wal-Marts and Home Depots in search of a ladder for my FIL. Chris ended up buying one at the last Home Depot we were in (it's a ladder that you can position multiple ways - extension ladder, step ladder, etc.). Then we had to find a REAL tree, lest we return home without one and have our hides tanned. We drove all over God's creation (and in that neck of the woods, it truly is God's creation) and finally came along a lonesome stand with one more tree left. For $15, we took it. Chris was able to get it through the house by grabbing it in the middle. You can see our lovely white trash tree here. It's a bit thin in the middle. Just a bit. The Lombardo's came over for dinner and my SIL Tara finally made her way from NYC. I tried to watch The Family Stone but was annoyed with SJP's character about 5 minutes in and retired to read upstairs.
Sunday I didn't sleep too late because I didn't know if Chris and Meg were going to go skiing. They didn't - there's hardly any snow left on any of the mountains and what's left sucks. Meg stayed home with my in-laws and Chris and I went out galavanting. Last year on our way home from Bellayre, we drove through Woodstock by accident and I wanted to go back to say I was there. We managed to find it (after going back over the Hudson to...uh...Hudson to get the gift certificate) and it's like the hippies never left. There's a wide range of people there - from your gray-bearded men with dreads down to their butts to the 5-inch stilleto poofy hair yentae driving their Volvo XCs. I got a cup of organic hot mulled cider (delish) and got a magnet featuring the original Woodstock poster. I also found this amusing. We ducked our heads into a shoe store and I finally tried on a pair of Danskos. I now know my size and I just need to decide what friggin' color I want (probably the Professionals in cordovan). We got back to the house to find that bits of the driveway were lit up with luminaria that my FIL and Erica crafted together. We had imported (direct from Utica) chicken riggies and greens for dinner. Chris and I opened our gifts - my in-laws got me a nice sweater, camisole and skirt from Ann Taylor and Tara got me a different Ann Taylor sweater. Chris got some clothes with SPF in them and some assorted work tools. He also got one of those day-glo safety turtles (you may have seen them in neighborhoods with children; the picture of him with his is here). Meg and I stayed up and watched some Sex in the City eps from season 6 (Tara brought the box set with her) but I cried uncle at around 1.
I got up early today and got stuff packed because we had to leave by 10:30 to make it back by about 2-ish to spend some time with my parents for the holiday. We made it back in one piece and had a nice dinner at my 'rents (T-bone steaks on the grill and salt potatoes - yes, it's Christmas, not July 4th!). I got five 1/2 hour massage gift certificates with my girl Tammy, a new fleece and sweater from L.L. Bean, an Ann Taylor Loft gift card, two new bracelet charms (a hockey one and a skiing one), some Starbucks dollars, and assorted other goodies. Chris and I finally came home to open our own gifts. He gave me some books (Team of Rivals, Life, The Universe, and Everything, and The Great Influenza), a tea pot (because I was annoying him by nuking my water in the microwave to get it hot), and a new North Face fleece jacket, which shocked me. I said I needed a new fleece, drooled over a North Face Denali for a few minutes, then moved on. The moths came out of the wallet for this one. I love it.
Chris is currently in bed - he leaves for NC in the morning for a week. I have my Target/mall strategy planned out and will hopefully drag my ass out of bed around 8 tomorrow so I can get my shop on.
I hope everyone had a great holiday!
Moment of Burrito: "There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child." - Erma Bombeck
I've finally put 3/4 of the Christmas goodies away and have decided to sit for a minute and breathe before going to bed. It was a nice holiday, all told. We got to the Lakehouse around 9 Friday night and I went to bed at 11. I usually have a hard time falling asleep in weird beds but I was so tired, I was out like a light. I got up around 11 on Saturday morning and then Chris, Meg and I ventured out to get a tree and finish up some shopping. We first hit up Hudson to get my in-laws a gift certificate to Baba Louie's (but they were all out...WTF?!) and we passed the most perfect tree in the whole world. You can see it here after it was moved into the house and decorated. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon in and out of various Wal-Marts and Home Depots in search of a ladder for my FIL. Chris ended up buying one at the last Home Depot we were in (it's a ladder that you can position multiple ways - extension ladder, step ladder, etc.). Then we had to find a REAL tree, lest we return home without one and have our hides tanned. We drove all over God's creation (and in that neck of the woods, it truly is God's creation) and finally came along a lonesome stand with one more tree left. For $15, we took it. Chris was able to get it through the house by grabbing it in the middle. You can see our lovely white trash tree here. It's a bit thin in the middle. Just a bit. The Lombardo's came over for dinner and my SIL Tara finally made her way from NYC. I tried to watch The Family Stone but was annoyed with SJP's character about 5 minutes in and retired to read upstairs.
Sunday I didn't sleep too late because I didn't know if Chris and Meg were going to go skiing. They didn't - there's hardly any snow left on any of the mountains and what's left sucks. Meg stayed home with my in-laws and Chris and I went out galavanting. Last year on our way home from Bellayre, we drove through Woodstock by accident and I wanted to go back to say I was there. We managed to find it (after going back over the Hudson to...uh...Hudson to get the gift certificate) and it's like the hippies never left. There's a wide range of people there - from your gray-bearded men with dreads down to their butts to the 5-inch stilleto poofy hair yentae driving their Volvo XCs. I got a cup of organic hot mulled cider (delish) and got a magnet featuring the original Woodstock poster. I also found this amusing. We ducked our heads into a shoe store and I finally tried on a pair of Danskos. I now know my size and I just need to decide what friggin' color I want (probably the Professionals in cordovan). We got back to the house to find that bits of the driveway were lit up with luminaria that my FIL and Erica crafted together. We had imported (direct from Utica) chicken riggies and greens for dinner. Chris and I opened our gifts - my in-laws got me a nice sweater, camisole and skirt from Ann Taylor and Tara got me a different Ann Taylor sweater. Chris got some clothes with SPF in them and some assorted work tools. He also got one of those day-glo safety turtles (you may have seen them in neighborhoods with children; the picture of him with his is here). Meg and I stayed up and watched some Sex in the City eps from season 6 (Tara brought the box set with her) but I cried uncle at around 1.
I got up early today and got stuff packed because we had to leave by 10:30 to make it back by about 2-ish to spend some time with my parents for the holiday. We made it back in one piece and had a nice dinner at my 'rents (T-bone steaks on the grill and salt potatoes - yes, it's Christmas, not July 4th!). I got five 1/2 hour massage gift certificates with my girl Tammy, a new fleece and sweater from L.L. Bean, an Ann Taylor Loft gift card, two new bracelet charms (a hockey one and a skiing one), some Starbucks dollars, and assorted other goodies. Chris and I finally came home to open our own gifts. He gave me some books (Team of Rivals, Life, The Universe, and Everything, and The Great Influenza), a tea pot (because I was annoying him by nuking my water in the microwave to get it hot), and a new North Face fleece jacket, which shocked me. I said I needed a new fleece, drooled over a North Face Denali for a few minutes, then moved on. The moths came out of the wallet for this one. I love it.
Chris is currently in bed - he leaves for NC in the morning for a week. I have my Target/mall strategy planned out and will hopefully drag my ass out of bed around 8 tomorrow so I can get my shop on.
I hope everyone had a great holiday!
Moment of Burrito: "There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child." - Erma Bombeck