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Last year: Tonight I'm going to my first Christmas party of the season, which is early even for me! |
I know you've all been waiting breathlessly for the Christmas toys I promised. Well, wait no longer! They can be found at: ebrooks.yeehaw.net/xmastoys/ There's an advent calendar which will automatically update every day, a Christmas spirit "purity test," and a sign-up form for the card exchange.
Y'all have fun! (And let me know if there are any problems. I have a small problem with the advent calendar where the graphic in the un-opened doors doesn't show up in all the cells, but if I scroll my browser down and then back up, they're there, so I'm afraid it isn't a coding problem that I can fix. But let me know if you have any other problems.)
I'm even wearing my Christmas sweater today. Well, okay, it's not really a Christmas sweater, but a winter sweater, being green with cream-colored snowflakes on it. (Or maybe they're supposed to be poinsettias. It's hard to tell.) Anyway, it's not a flashy Christmas. And I didn't really mean to be wearing it today, but when I heard the weather report, I decided it was going to be cold enough to warrant a wool sweater, and this is the only one I have. (Don't look at me like that. It just doesn't get cold enough often enough here for me to warrant more than one wool sweater. I'm lucky to have a real coat; most of the time I make do with a lined windbreaker.)
I'd meant to take a nap yesterday after work, but lying on the couch dozing, I found myself planning ways to decorate the front porch, so I just got up and did it. It only took about forty-five minutes, once I'd located everything I needed. Though I'm going to have to do a touch-up paint job in the spring; I used duct tape to secure the lights in place while I wound them around the posts, and when I peeled it off, some of the paint came with it. Not a lot, and it's all on the side that's away from the street and protected from the rain, but still. (I'm such an idiot sometimes...)
The end result, I think, looks very nice. We're going to put up the tree this weekend (that's the plan, anyway) so once it's up, I'll be sure to take a picture for you all. (And - let's be honest - for myself.)
Braz and Kris came over last night to give Matt his birthday presents from them, and we all went out to dinner at Carmella's, which is a pricey but very good local Italian restaurant. Actually, maybe I shouldn't complain about the price; I got a lot of leftovers from my meal. I'd waffled over ordering it - the description on the menu said it had mushrooms, and the last time I ordered a chicken-and-mushrooms dish at an Italian restaurant, there were more mushrooms than pasta. I'll eat mushrooms, but I don't like them that much. But this came with just a handful of 'shrooms dotting the pasta, and the most wonderful chicken I've ever had. Yum. I can't wait to eat the leftovers.
We went to Ben and Jerry's for dessert, and discovered their new seasonal ice cream: Festivus. (The link goes to B&J's main website, which is the only place they talk about the Festivus flavor. If you don't see it, then you're probably reading after they've changed it. Sorry.) Brown sugar ice cream with bits of spicy gingerbread in it. It didn't taste like I'd imagined... It was better. If you have any access at all to Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and any liking at all for gingerbread, you must try it. Right now.
I love the holiday season. Anyone who knows me knows that. I'm a real Christmas freak: I still have trouble going to sleep on Christmas Eve, I still wake up before dawn on Christmas morning, and I still believe in Santa Claus.
I don't love everything about the holidays. "Reason for the season" people bother me. It's as if they think there was never any midwinter celebration before Christianity. Love is the reason for the season. Hope is the reason for the season. Joy is the reason for the season. If your religion gives you love and hope and joy, that's fantastic - but don't tell me I'm celebrating wrong just because I'm celebrating secularly. (I know the word Christmas derives from "Christ's Mass" and is therefore Christian. I grew up with "Christmas" and so that's what I call it, and that's when I celebrate it - which is convenient, since that's the day I get off from work. If it makes you feel better, you can mentally substitute "Midwinter" or "Festivus" or the holiday of your choice when I say Christmas. Or just keep in mind that for me, it's an intensely spiritual but non-religious holiday.)
To me, Christmas is about giving. Giving time, giving love, giving happiness, and - why not? - giving presents. I love to pick out presents for people. I love to wrap them and watch them be opened. I'm not going to deny enjoying opening presents, either. That's fun. But the real satisfaction is in the giving.
Welcome to December, and I hope we'll all have a very merry Christmas.
Word of the Day: cryptography - the coding and decoding of secret messages
Okay, I couldn't work it into today's entry. Why? Because I didn't feel like talking about work, which is where I most often tussle with cryptography issues; and I'm not currently re-reading Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, which is the only other thing that might prompt me to talk about cryptography. Sorry. As a consolation (I know you were crushed) I have two articles in News of the Weird today...
Want to lick hair loss?
-- A Colombian hairdresser says he has found a way to lick baldness -- literally. His offbeat scalp treatment involves a special tonic and massage -- with a cow's tongue.
"I feel more manly, more attractive to women," says customer Henry Gomez. "My friends even say 'What are you doing? You have more hair. You look younger.'"
Woman regains sight after bump on the head
-- A 24-year-old blind woman who had been blind for 10 years regained her sight earlier this month when she bumped her head on a coffee table.
After waiting a few hours she phoned her mother and read off a pack of cigarettes to prove she could see.
- A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
Current Projects:
- Christmas ornaments
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