(no subject)
So Christmas was pretty nice 'round these parts even though my grandfather is still in the hospital. On Christmas Eve, Brother Adam, Esq. and I went down to Gramma F's place for the evening and a good time was had by all, which was especially good because this was the first Christmas without Papa H, so we wanted it to be special. My father, who is perpetually clueless was dithering and dragging his feet and whining about how he hates the holidays (like he does every year) so BA and I took it upon ourselves to make everything nice. BA took Gramma F to see her sister who she doesn't get to visit with much and then he cleaned up the house for her so we could have dinner and gift-opening out on the spacious enclosed porch rather than the cramped living room. I ordered a sandwich platter and some desserts from Stop & Shop (who do an awesome job on those things, by the by) and my aunt made some appetizers and a few other dishes for variety...and pie. She made a lot of pie. She makes these tasty mixed fruit pies. Apple/cherry and blueberry/peach. So good. Anyhoo. I even tolerated about 45 minutes of The Kid (my obnoxious ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome half-sister) who, while she didn't insult me or anyone else in the room, is still a total pain in the ass and way immature for a 13 year old. From the moment she arrived until the time she left it was totally The Kid Show and everyone was just waiting for the peace to break and for her to latch onto some obnoxious subject and act like more of an ass than she actually was even though she was pretty well behaved...for her. I was pretty much ready to drop-kick her into next week during the gift exchange though.
Here's the thing, and I think many people would agree: a huge part of the enjoyment of giving a gift is seeing the reaction of the recipient. Because of my grandmother's sight issues, it's hard to find interesting gifts to give her because, naturally, when you're trying to figure out what to get someone, your first thoughts are about the things they like. Well, the fact that she can't really see anymore has put the serious kibosh on a lot of the things that she used to like (no more golf, no more crocheting, etc.), so now we operate based on a formula that Brother Adam, Esq. has referred to as appealing to her other senses (smell, taste, sound, touch). This year I was a bit stuck on what to get her when I was thumbing through Good Housekeeping or some other magazine of its ilk when I ran across some blurb concerning throw pillows and I was inspired. The throw pillows on the couch my grandmother uses the most are pretty old, like, I'd say almost as old as I am (she crocheted the covers and stuffed them herself) and, as such, are flat as pancakes from being used. I ended up getting her a nice soft, firm, yet cushy set of new pillows at Target and I was pretty frickin' excited to give them to her, but The Kid had to "help" open the gifts. So instead of opening each bag one at a time and having a moment or two for Gramma F to actually hold them in her hands and get a sense of them, the little shit ripped through everything at such a rapid pace and created such a din that Gramma F couldn't even hear me talking to her. Now, I understand that ADHD and Asperger's is a shitty combination of things to have, but maybe if I had some sort of relationship with The Kid, I would've been less offended. Lord knows, I've tried, but my step-mother pretty much made all of us feel like she'd just rather not have us around (my grandparents included). We were pretty much kept at an arm's length and permitted to sully her existence with our presence on holidays, like decorations kept in the crawlspace until they're needed. One can only try so hard to break down a solid stone wall with a Wiffle bat before one gives up and moves on. So we did. And it's never not awkward...although Brother Adam seems to fake it much better than I can. Maybe because he actually likes people more than I do. But after she left, we resumed our super awesome fun times.
Christmas day was pretty good too. Brother Adam and I got Momma D one of those super terrific Keurig coffee makers and it is totally the most brilliant thing we've ever gotten her. I got a new, fluffy comforter for my bed, a new desk chair, and a few other odds and ends that were quite lovely, including the Beatles edition of Trivial Pursuit, which is SO HARD, you guys, OMG! So much minutiae. I mean, I've read about a dozen books about The Beatles and own about a dozen Beatles CDs and seen their movies multiple times, but I don't know who the hell would know the answers to a lot of those questions (besides the person who wrote them). I don't think that Paul or Ringo would even know, but then again, the 60's was a wild time, man. Yeesh. It's still awesome though. So yeah, it was a pretty good time and we all got a pretty good haul and Auntie J-A makes a pretty rad dinner. Woot!