I was home from the weekend before Christmas to the weekend after, and it was lovely spending so much time with my guys. In between more enjoyable activities I squeezed in (ha ha) a mammogram and some doctor's visits. More entertaining was a drive up to the Springfield, MA area to dine at the restaurant Alex works in and bring him back with us for the holidays. We had a lovely dinner and dessert, and Alex was able to get away from the kitchen for a little while to sit down with us and have a salad. At the end of the evening, the other staff helped him finish up his chores so we could head back home. During the long drive down, we plugged my Ipod into the stereo and listened to Billy Joel - who knew Alex was a big fan?
Christmas Eve we went to a friend's traditional Christmas Eve party - a lovely, low-key way to spend the evening. Delicious food, interesting conversation, gorgeous huge tree. On our way home, we stopped by to look at the lights at a particular house in Stratford, that we've stopped by for years. They usually go all out, even to the point of filling in the whole front lawn with green lights. But the house was dark this year. I hope it doesn't reflect bad news for that family.
Christmas itself was also low-key. The family gathered at my sister's and we watched the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert (which my BIL had Tivo'd.) It was a wonderful concert. Dinner was fabulous and everyone seemed very happy with their presents.
Funny story about the presents. I asked my SIL what my neices wanted. She suggested a particular book for one and something from Forever 21 or Abercrombie for the other. Blair and I took a trip to the mall. First we stopped in the bookstore. I had planned to get a gift certificate, but thought I'd try to find the book first. Blair says, "What are we looking for?" I replied that I couldn't remember the name of the book, but that it was long and I'd probably recognize it when I saw it. I started at the top left corner of the shelves in the chapter book section and began to read the titles. Over the other side of the shelves, Blair reads the title of a book aloud, "The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma." "That's it!" I cried, giving the woman behind us a good laugh. I grabbed it and one of my favorites from when I was a kid (A Wrinkle in Time.)
Next stop, Forever 21. But they were having some sort of computer problems and couldn't process gift card sales. So we went upstairs to Abercrombie & Fitch, which I try to avoid because of the loud music and overpowering perfume smell. We waited on line, and asked for a gift card. "Sure," the salesperson said, "but we only have this one." The card had a picture of a shirtless young man. A very nice young man, I'm sure, but my sister in law would not approve. I didn't approve too much myself. Oh - but there's an Abercrombie across the hall; they carry clothes for the tween set, surely their gift cards would not depict semi-naked people. Wrong! They had two to choose from: a young man with no shirt and another young man with a t-shirt slung around his shoulders. I chose him, since he only had one nipple exposed instead of both - being the lesser of two evils. But on the way home, I had an epiphany, and before I sealed him up in the envelope, I drew him a black t-shirt with a Sharpie marker. He was the hit of the Christmas party.
