So This Was Christmas

Night #1:

Late night arrival. See undercover brother for myself. Second take. You know how I always talk about my bad poker face? I actually feel sorry for the look he must have seen. I told him I wasn't a fan of his appearance, he responded he's supposed to look like a skeezy druggie. I congratulated him on his success.

As previously mentioned, several different family members fell ill right before I came into town, so there was that.

In addition, my mom was upset I didn't have an "ah-ha" moment at the sight of the new-old house, but I think that's to their credit, as they've done a lot of rehab work. I did keep repeating that the house of my memories seemed larger. I lived there from the ages of 2 to 9 with a six month break in the middle. I did offer to run down the street holding myself to pay tribute to the post school bus dropoff moments of my youth. (It took me a long time before I would use a public bathroom, so you can imagine the urgency after a 7 hour school day.)

Day #1:

Early morning grocery run. I kept repeating "7a your time is 5a my time. It's 5a my time!!" Then we cleaned the house and wrapped the last few presents in preps for the next 3 days of Christmas fun. Finally...it was time for Alvin. Yes I saw it a second time. This time with two nephews and a niece (and their parents and mine).

A funny thing happened on the way in to the theater as I pointed out my car twin and announced it as so. Hunter's response (the first thing he said to me this visit): "That's a stupid car." Completely deadpan. Good to know he's dealing with the distance well.

So after the movie we had our family Christmas and we were all together and it was good. Every Christmas we read Luke 2 and as the next generation gets old enough to read it becomes their turn. This year was Haleigh's first time. She's 6 and was able to master some of the bigger words better than Matthew probably could. (JUST kidding. Maybe.) She got help from Ned and her mom when she hit a word that did confuse her.

Everybody but Melissa's fam stayed at the house that night. Josh and I did an alcohol-run (thank God for the convenience of the QT around the corner) and all was well.

Day #2
QT of a different kind. Quality time with gma. I baked two of KDL's pumpkin cakes as we dished about life and boys and everything I love to talk to her about. After the cakes, I had left over pumpkin and she was like, well, why don't you just whip up a pumpkin pie. Well maybe because I don't think like that. So two pumpkin cakes and a pie (all from scratch) later...she sent me on my way, but not before we sat down to bowls of chicken'n'dumplings. Then I went back to my parent's house for Christmas with my dad's fam. I hadn't seen them in way too long, so we had a great time catching up. We are sisters we are one!

Quote of the day: "MA, you've finally gained some weight, oh wait, that's your coat."

For the record, Melody and I did belly comparisons and, well, they aren't that different.

Day #3 - Christmas Eve
I forget what I did this day, but I feel like it involved running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Oh yeah, I had to exchange a few Christmas presents (apparently my mom too assumed I would come back to town a size larger). Anyway, I thought it would be easier the day before Christmas than the day after. Then, like clockwork, extended family members (this time from my mom's side) showed up at 4p (that was the designated time each day) for the festivities.

Ned also showed up with his Guitar Hero, which confirmed for me my lack of hand-eye coordination. Ryan reprised his role as Santa, which was humorous for everyone. Another great time had.

Day #4 - Christmas Day
Traditionally this is in-law day for my siblings, but as it worked out, nobody did that this year. My parents and I continued our Christmas Day movie tradition. This year it was Charlie Wilson's War, which I would recommend. We got Chinese food and visited with the next door neighbor I used to play He-Man and She-Ra with. Then we went and checked out Hunter's loot. I was glad to see that one of his favorite gifts was a Viewmaster. Haleigh got an Etch a Sketch. I'm a fan of reviving old toys.

I spent my last night in town with my grandma. We watched Cocoon (I got her Cocoon and Cocoon Returns for Christmas). Then we talked late into the night and slept late into the morning. (So late for her that I at one point started freaking out and checked to make sure she was still breathing, but all was well, she was just super tired.) I took her errand running before heading back to my parents to get a ride to the airport.

So there it is, the busiest quickest trip home ever.
I came back to town in time for a shake-up at work and a long weekend of solitude. I saw There Will Be Blood Today. I've been a DDL fan since Last of the Mohicans (even if he did scare me when I interviewed him at the junket for The Ballad of Jack and Rose). He didn't let me down in the movie, which also boasts a great performance from Paul Dano, who I met at Sundance 07.

I leave for Sundance 08 in 2.5 weeks. Craziness.

Oh, and Happy New Year. My 2008 ToDo List is just around the corner. Get ready.