The Season, Finally
Our (or MY, anyway) preparations for Christmas were typically desultory. I had planned to somehow complete all my shopping and other obligations in a whirlwind of activity starting Sunday, when I got back from my road trip. That whirlwind instead had to be redirected to bail out a client whose hard disk crashed last Friday, a client who hadn’t had a useable backup for two months. And knew it all along. Add this to other end-or-year chores to perform with accounting software and you’re looking at a shopping season telescoped, finally into an evening’s desperate surfing for e-gift certificates. My only outside-the-house shopping foray occurred Sunday, when we walked to REI’s flagship store on Eastlake, with a stop in at Feathered Friends. REI’s about 4 miles from our house, so we were feeling all virtuous, but, hey! If you’re not a hiker, what are you doing shopping at REI in the first place?
While I was out of town, my wife had bought a Noble Fir at Green Lake Elementary (see previous post) and placed it in a bucket on the porch, awaiting my return last Sunday. We finally brought it into the house on Thursday, and the final ornament was hung right about midnight Friday.
Despite the compressed season, we had some good times, thanks in large part to our neighbors’ hospitality:
Carolers arrive on our front porch.
We joined the carolers after they were finished, at a house down the street. To our delight, these two fellows pulled out their axes and gave a delightful bluegrass concert.
Christmas dinner was hosted by our long-time neighbors across the street. Our son flexes his forearms mashing potatoes.
Dinner is convivial and delicious, turkey and numerous yummy dishes punctuated by an archipelago of wine bottles.
What’s a holiday dinner without somebody’s show-stopping cute kid to corrupt with chocolate and jumping-on-someone-else’s-sofa activities? Mrs. Perils does the honor here. I can categorically say she’s not hoping for grandchildren, but..she’s sure having fun, isn’t she?
