A Long, Cold Winter - Part I
Now that daffodils are sprouting, it seems that I can definitely say we survived the D.C. Winter of 2009-2010.
The winter started out normally enough - cold and wet. We went home to New York for Thanksgiving after going to Aunt Linda and Uncle Rick's house last year. We had a lovely time, all gathered together at the Sheas. I truly am ever grateful that our families get along as fabulously well as they do. Chris' aunt and uncle came up too, and we had another rousing game of Apples to Apples after dinner. Then, the long drive back - oh, holiday traffic, how you vex us so!
Shortly after, the snow started falling. And never really stopped. The snow in December introduced me to the concept of the adult snow day - the federal government can close? really?? - a concept that I grew extremely familiar with over the next month. But the first snowfall wasn't too much of an inconvenience beyond delaying the start of a volunteer project for a second (and indefinite) period of time. I was just happy I didn't trudge into D.C. and then stuck one Metro stop away from ours, which closed after about 8 inches of snow had fallen. Missing work for one day was like a vacation more than anything else.
Christmas was a reprieve from D.C., but not from the fluffy white stuff. Of course, White Christmases in Clifton Park are not unusual and the snow didn't hamper our travel plans, so I didn't mind it too much. It always makes everything look so lovely. In terms of celebrations, we reversed Christmas this year. The last few years, we stayed over with my parents on Christmas Eve and then went to the Sheas, where we had Christmas dinner. In contrast, this year, Mom decided she would host Christmas dinner. As my parents had never hosted Christmas for anyone but the three of us before, she was rather nervous (even if she wouldn't admit it). On Christmas Eve, the house was all a hustle and bustle. Chris helped Mom quite a bit in the kitchen, while I unhelpfully sat like a lump on the couch, watching Anthony Bourdain's holiday special ("Force feeding geese doesn't hurt them!") with Dad, who slept through half of it anyway. I did make myself somewhat useful by decorating the Christmas tree, which I had promised to do the day before. However, I kept getting a little out of the spirit because of the oh-so-Christmasy Jethro Tull that Dad kept selecting on the TV music channel!
Christmas morning was relatively unhurried at the Sheas, as I knew my parents were busy getting ready. There were all of the Shea hallmarks - cinnamon buns, orange juice, and a tremendous pile of boxes of all shapes and sizes under the tree. I did feel a little bad because Chris had a stack of presents for me, but I had nothing for him at his parents' house. I bought him a few larger presents, all of which I had left at my parents' house by mistake, whereas he bought me a bunch of smaller ones because he loves the look of a "cascade" of presents. Nevertheless, we both received quite a lot of nice presents at the Sheas, and of course, even more at my parents' house. In particular, we received Wii Rock Band and Wii Fit from my parents, drastically expanding the usefulness of the Wii, which we received from them last Christmas. Also, sitting on my parents' hardwood floor, I realized that if we have hardwood floors in our house (which of course, I didn't know about at the time), we will make sure to have lots of pillows to sit and lean on when opening presents. Keep things nice and warm.
After opening presents, Christmas really kicked into high gear, as Mom and Chris finished up the food and waited for the Sheas, including Chris's Aunt Pat, to arrive. Aunt Pat wasn't going to come at first, but decided to drive up after much needling and encouragement from Melissa and Chris. For dinner, we had an Italian extravaganza, with chicken Parmesan, eggplant rollatini, and two different types of lasagna (veggie and meat). Naturally, we ate ourselves illy, as if we were Tiny Tim, previously surviving on crusts of bread. A delicious mix of veggies, cheese and pasta. Dinner was followed by a smorgasbord of desserts. Mom made several types of cookies, lemon lush, and dessert bars. Mama Shea brought pie and even more cookies! It would have made a Victorian child die in delight.
We finished with a rousing game of the traditional pastime, Catchphrase. It's this little electronic gizmo that pops up with a word you have to help your team guess. Thankfully, Dad played much better on Christmas than he did the night before. Then, he was on my team against Chris and Mom and the best he could do for several of them was "I dunno" and a shrug. On Christmas, he proved he could do better, both helping people guess several and getting a few himself. Even Aunt Pat laughed a lot, even though she was a bit nervous coming over.
The rest of the week we spent hanging out and going out with our friends. New Years was fun without being overly eventful. We got in on a package in Troy with Greg A, Dave and Stephanie. It was at the Marriott with a bar, and included a buffet dinner, drinks all night, and a hotel room. We were actually part of a much larger party that we glommed onto because Greg's friend-of-a-friend knew the bar's owner. Seeing how "sports bar" the place was, I was a bit skeptical at first, but we ended up having a good time. The only weird thing was that we somehow got carded by police/security after we entered! The bar staff pointed people out to them that they thought had questionable ID and I think the security people got confused. After a bit of examination of my Maryland ID, they gave it back and all was well again. I drank Pinto Grigio and Riesling all night, which keeps me happy without feeling nauseous. We met Greg's friends-of-friend, who were good-natured and interesting to talk to. It was the second time I had ever met Stephanie, but she was great fun to hang out with. At midnight, we blew horns and rattled noisemakers and yelled quite a bit. It was lighthearted fun. The place started clearing out not long after, so we headed up to the room around 12:30. We briefly considered hanging out with other people in the larger party, but it seemed like it was winding down when I stepped in their room, so we quickly abandoned that plan. Instead, we returned to our own room, which we were sharing with Greg. Sadly, the deal was only for two rooms, and Dave said, "There's no way in hell we're sharing a room." So much for New Years romance. It didn't really matter anyway, as Chris promptly fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. So I stayed up and talked with Greg, which was really cool. It's so rare that I hang out with my high school friends one-on-one, and Greg's always been someone I've been able to have in-depth, honest conversations with. We talked a lot about relationships, along with some goofy stuff, until about 3, when we were both too exhausted to stay up longer. The next morning, Chris and I were awake enough to drag ourselves downstairs to the breakfast buffet, which was surprisingly good for a hotel buffet. After a long night, I think I would have died without some food. Plus, it was definitely healthier than the year we went to Bombers for breakfast (and much more drama-free).
On the drive back home to D.C., we visited with my extended family in New Jersey. My Dad's Mom is in her late 80s and I like to see her whenever I can. As usual, she fed us entirely too much, and then we talked and talked, especially once Aunt Patty, Uncle Brian, and Sarah arrived at her house. I'm so glad I come from a family who loves to converse, to tell stories. I can't imagine anything worse than family gatherings where you sit around and stare at each other. We stayed over at Aunt Linda and Uncle Rick's house, which allowed us to wish them a Merry Christmas and exchange gifts. Generously, they gave us a $100 gift certificate to Volt, the restaurant in Frederick, MD, run by Bryan Voltaggio, the runner-up on last season's Top Chef.
Driving home was, as usual, miserable. But the traffic was expected and we got home safely, so it all worked out. Little did we know that we would be dying to get out into the car soon enough.
The winter started out normally enough - cold and wet. We went home to New York for Thanksgiving after going to Aunt Linda and Uncle Rick's house last year. We had a lovely time, all gathered together at the Sheas. I truly am ever grateful that our families get along as fabulously well as they do. Chris' aunt and uncle came up too, and we had another rousing game of Apples to Apples after dinner. Then, the long drive back - oh, holiday traffic, how you vex us so!
Shortly after, the snow started falling. And never really stopped. The snow in December introduced me to the concept of the adult snow day - the federal government can close? really?? - a concept that I grew extremely familiar with over the next month. But the first snowfall wasn't too much of an inconvenience beyond delaying the start of a volunteer project for a second (and indefinite) period of time. I was just happy I didn't trudge into D.C. and then stuck one Metro stop away from ours, which closed after about 8 inches of snow had fallen. Missing work for one day was like a vacation more than anything else.
Christmas was a reprieve from D.C., but not from the fluffy white stuff. Of course, White Christmases in Clifton Park are not unusual and the snow didn't hamper our travel plans, so I didn't mind it too much. It always makes everything look so lovely. In terms of celebrations, we reversed Christmas this year. The last few years, we stayed over with my parents on Christmas Eve and then went to the Sheas, where we had Christmas dinner. In contrast, this year, Mom decided she would host Christmas dinner. As my parents had never hosted Christmas for anyone but the three of us before, she was rather nervous (even if she wouldn't admit it). On Christmas Eve, the house was all a hustle and bustle. Chris helped Mom quite a bit in the kitchen, while I unhelpfully sat like a lump on the couch, watching Anthony Bourdain's holiday special ("Force feeding geese doesn't hurt them!") with Dad, who slept through half of it anyway. I did make myself somewhat useful by decorating the Christmas tree, which I had promised to do the day before. However, I kept getting a little out of the spirit because of the oh-so-Christmasy Jethro Tull that Dad kept selecting on the TV music channel!
Christmas morning was relatively unhurried at the Sheas, as I knew my parents were busy getting ready. There were all of the Shea hallmarks - cinnamon buns, orange juice, and a tremendous pile of boxes of all shapes and sizes under the tree. I did feel a little bad because Chris had a stack of presents for me, but I had nothing for him at his parents' house. I bought him a few larger presents, all of which I had left at my parents' house by mistake, whereas he bought me a bunch of smaller ones because he loves the look of a "cascade" of presents. Nevertheless, we both received quite a lot of nice presents at the Sheas, and of course, even more at my parents' house. In particular, we received Wii Rock Band and Wii Fit from my parents, drastically expanding the usefulness of the Wii, which we received from them last Christmas. Also, sitting on my parents' hardwood floor, I realized that if we have hardwood floors in our house (which of course, I didn't know about at the time), we will make sure to have lots of pillows to sit and lean on when opening presents. Keep things nice and warm.
After opening presents, Christmas really kicked into high gear, as Mom and Chris finished up the food and waited for the Sheas, including Chris's Aunt Pat, to arrive. Aunt Pat wasn't going to come at first, but decided to drive up after much needling and encouragement from Melissa and Chris. For dinner, we had an Italian extravaganza, with chicken Parmesan, eggplant rollatini, and two different types of lasagna (veggie and meat). Naturally, we ate ourselves illy, as if we were Tiny Tim, previously surviving on crusts of bread. A delicious mix of veggies, cheese and pasta. Dinner was followed by a smorgasbord of desserts. Mom made several types of cookies, lemon lush, and dessert bars. Mama Shea brought pie and even more cookies! It would have made a Victorian child die in delight.
We finished with a rousing game of the traditional pastime, Catchphrase. It's this little electronic gizmo that pops up with a word you have to help your team guess. Thankfully, Dad played much better on Christmas than he did the night before. Then, he was on my team against Chris and Mom and the best he could do for several of them was "I dunno" and a shrug. On Christmas, he proved he could do better, both helping people guess several and getting a few himself. Even Aunt Pat laughed a lot, even though she was a bit nervous coming over.
The rest of the week we spent hanging out and going out with our friends. New Years was fun without being overly eventful. We got in on a package in Troy with Greg A, Dave and Stephanie. It was at the Marriott with a bar, and included a buffet dinner, drinks all night, and a hotel room. We were actually part of a much larger party that we glommed onto because Greg's friend-of-a-friend knew the bar's owner. Seeing how "sports bar" the place was, I was a bit skeptical at first, but we ended up having a good time. The only weird thing was that we somehow got carded by police/security after we entered! The bar staff pointed people out to them that they thought had questionable ID and I think the security people got confused. After a bit of examination of my Maryland ID, they gave it back and all was well again. I drank Pinto Grigio and Riesling all night, which keeps me happy without feeling nauseous. We met Greg's friends-of-friend, who were good-natured and interesting to talk to. It was the second time I had ever met Stephanie, but she was great fun to hang out with. At midnight, we blew horns and rattled noisemakers and yelled quite a bit. It was lighthearted fun. The place started clearing out not long after, so we headed up to the room around 12:30. We briefly considered hanging out with other people in the larger party, but it seemed like it was winding down when I stepped in their room, so we quickly abandoned that plan. Instead, we returned to our own room, which we were sharing with Greg. Sadly, the deal was only for two rooms, and Dave said, "There's no way in hell we're sharing a room." So much for New Years romance. It didn't really matter anyway, as Chris promptly fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. So I stayed up and talked with Greg, which was really cool. It's so rare that I hang out with my high school friends one-on-one, and Greg's always been someone I've been able to have in-depth, honest conversations with. We talked a lot about relationships, along with some goofy stuff, until about 3, when we were both too exhausted to stay up longer. The next morning, Chris and I were awake enough to drag ourselves downstairs to the breakfast buffet, which was surprisingly good for a hotel buffet. After a long night, I think I would have died without some food. Plus, it was definitely healthier than the year we went to Bombers for breakfast (and much more drama-free).
On the drive back home to D.C., we visited with my extended family in New Jersey. My Dad's Mom is in her late 80s and I like to see her whenever I can. As usual, she fed us entirely too much, and then we talked and talked, especially once Aunt Patty, Uncle Brian, and Sarah arrived at her house. I'm so glad I come from a family who loves to converse, to tell stories. I can't imagine anything worse than family gatherings where you sit around and stare at each other. We stayed over at Aunt Linda and Uncle Rick's house, which allowed us to wish them a Merry Christmas and exchange gifts. Generously, they gave us a $100 gift certificate to Volt, the restaurant in Frederick, MD, run by Bryan Voltaggio, the runner-up on last season's Top Chef.
Driving home was, as usual, miserable. But the traffic was expected and we got home safely, so it all worked out. Little did we know that we would be dying to get out into the car soon enough.