the 2006 holiday season recap

A record must be made. I need to be able to look back on this holiday season for years to come.

Hopefully a couple of these may explain my absence as of late. I'll let you guess which ones.
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This would be the year that the phone jack in the livingroom managed to get ripped off the wall, and in the process of doing so, it somehow managed to short out any other usable jack in the house. This mostly meant no internet access. It also meant (thanks to my local phone company), an ALL DAY/12-HOUR repair appointment window today. When I complained, I was told to accept it or wait until January 2nd for a visit.
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This would be a year with Return of The Sun Cookies (yay!). These are made by KS, a dance student and member of the Sabah Ensemble. She usually brings the cookies to our Circle Dance for the Winter's Solstice. Every year I look forward to unfolding my shiny little indiviually wrapped package...and savoring the flaky, buttery, ball of sunshine.

There have been a couple years (okay, it might have only been one year, but apparently it traumatized me) where she didn't make them. I always find myself a bit lost without them. A solstice without cookies is sort of like a Groundhog's Day with no Phil.
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This would be the year that I was hanging out watching a DVD with MyFK and noticed his feet out of the corner of my eye...



...and they didn't look like little kid feet anymore.
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(I'll spare you the photo on this one--be thankful)

This would be the year that the French Press exploded and spewed boiling hot water all over my right breast, causing 2nd degree burns, a rush visit to the doctor, and whole lot of discomfort.

I now have "BooBooBoobies".
And a new bottle of pain meds.
And possibly some new scars.
Lovely.
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This would be the year that I spent Christmas Day with Donna. We were in the same boat: single mom, kiddo gone for Christmas. She came here to TheShanty du AmpuT, I whipped us up some brunch, and then she treated me to a movie (Apocalypto). She also gifted me these lovely handmade stitch markers. Lookie...some have bellydancer bells on them!



I had a grand time. Good movie, good company. This was my first time going to a movie on Christmas day. I was surprised how crowded it was! It was also the first time in a loooong while that I've entertained a guest here.

Not counting TheMIG. Whom I always entertain like a guest when he comes here. Even though we've been together 3 years now. Our secret to long (hot) happy life.
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This would be the first year since he was born, that I wasn't with MyFK on Christmas morning. I missed sharing his excitement of Christmas morning.

Also notable was the fact that Santa didn't even touch the plate of cookies I'd left out for him.
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This would be the year when I almost blew Santa's cover.

In an attempt to have my son be grateful for his presents, I told him, "You should be thankful. Some kids dont get anything for Christmas. Not. One. Single. Thing."

To which, after a long silence, he replied, "Nothing?? Not even a present from Santa? Why not?? Can't he find them? Is it because they don't have a tree??"

Ummmm....uhhhh....
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This would be the year when the day after Christmas, at 1:30am, TheStoopids (ie my wonderful doggie-doo-doos) earned their keep.

They scared the shit out of someone who hopped the fence into my backyard. I believe the intruder's intention was to break and enter through the back door, and then open the front door to let his buddies in (they were waiting in the SUV parked out front).

But that plan was foiled because when my doggies bark, they sound like Cujo.

I'm hoping next year to have Santa looking for us in a new neighborhood.
The sheriff is getting sick of me calling.
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This would be the year MyFK chipped his front tooth off, and had it skillfully replaced with some sort of white filling material. You wouldn't notice it unless someone pointed it out to you. When he is full grown, it will be switched to a stronger crown.

But the day after he got the tooth fixed, MyFK became very sullen and tearful because he will never (well, not until he gets the crown upgrade) be able to bite into an apple again, eat corn on the cob, or rip open a bag of doritos with his teeth. It was difficult to me to see him so sad, partly because it was tough not to project my own lost body part problems on him. Finding empathy was not a problem.

MyFk has decided losing half a tooth does not make him an amputee.
Maybe a ToothUTee. Jury's still out on that one.
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This would be the year I spontaneously joined my parents dining out on Christmas Eve, and had the best seafood risotto I've ever eaten. We think going there may be our new holiday tradition.
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This would be there year that I had an intense flashback of a Christmas moment 3 years ago...when Ken, my (ex)FatherInLaw (MyFK's paternal grandpa) and I shared a moment alone in the livingroom. He had just been diagnosed with cancer a couple of weeks earlier, and was given 5 months to live.

It was to be his last Christmas.

All of the gifts had been opened, and MyFk went outside to play with his new football. Ken and I were sitting next to each other on the couch, and without saying a word, he just sort of slumped over, put his head in my lap, and without saying a word, just sobbed. He died a couple of weeks later.

He was a very good man. And I miss him.
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This would be the year I swore up, down, and sideways, that I would not buy a Christmas tree. MyFK was going to be at his dad's, and I was focusing on Solstice and Channukah...so why bother??

And then I still bought a tree.

How was I to resist??
A pre-lit tabletop tree, from Tar-zhay for only $2.99?? (they were sold out and this was the discounted display model)

MyFK begging didn't help. He wanted it so badly he even offered to pay for it with his allowance money.

Decorated with the smaller of our personal ornaments, the plastic little piece of consumerism is actually quite adorable, and in the end, it brought much joy to our home this year.