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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Everything!

Let the holiday whining commence (slash continue)!

While I hope everyone's festivities abide by the Universal Declaration of No Drama, I wanted to open up a thread for those whose loved ones maybe need a Cluestick Reminder and for those with anti-whines to celebrate (recognizing that those could be the very same Pixies in both categories. Life is like that).

What are the whines and anti-whines in your neck of the woods on this Christmas week / wintery week?

23 comments:

esperanza said...

# of invites to other peoples' homes for Christmas Dinner: 2. Lovely. When did these invites occur? This morning. Would have been nice to know when I made a special trip to the overcrowded grocery store with the baboos in the rain, just so we would have food for Christmas dinner.

Cry me a river, I know. For the record, we accepted the lunch invite and declined the supper one.

KLee said...

Had a lovely holiday here, complete with requisite visits to both of our mothers' houses, and to my COMPLETE surprise, there was NO profanity at my mother's house this year! It's a Christmas miracle! (Usually, there's at least some sort of "you're being an asshole on Christmas" kind of comments, and mercifully, there were NONE this year! I am so excited!)

Very happy with my gifts, and glad to see my child happy with hers. Proof positive that I do actually get things right every now and again. :>)

Merry Christmas to all, Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish sistren, and Blessed Festivus to the rest of us!

KLee

kathy a. said...

AW: it was a lovely day, with great relatives! and tons of food, throughout the day. i'm tired...

W: my cousin and his wife turned up 2 hours late for brunch. we finally started without them. next time, i am totally lying about when the festivities begin. these people were an hour late for setup at their own wedding. AW: love them anyway.

esperanza -- what the heck about last-minute invites?

klee -- yay! family harmony!

Sue said...

I will refrain from whine-age on the basis that I had no company to feed today at all. You are all finer pixies than I.

I pulled a solid Three-Toed-Sloth Day. Out of bed astonishingly late. Leftover scotch egg for brunch (made by my sister and delivered to my door), then hubby and i watched the first three Harry Potter movies, ate leftover turkey.....


Yup.


That's pretty much it.

I did, however, just wash my hair. I feel too lazy to blow dry it.


Wow. That's lazy.

W: last minute whine!!! It's too late to nap and too early for bed. Wah! ~giggle~

kathy a. said...

well, sue has revealed the secret to her amazingly put-together hair: blow-drying always. she needs a day off!! and got one!

my delinquent cousins showed up early for today's get-together beginning at a restaurant. i suspect my aunt, who was staying with them, applied some of her famous "persuasion."

all the relatives applied some "persuasion" to my adult son on the issue of riding a bicycle w/o a helmet. my cousin measured his head. my sisters pronounced that he WILL get a helmet. (i said i have said it all before, but they all had illustrations of the need for helmet, also.) love love love relatives.

kathy a. said...

p.s. -- after brunch, the 10 of us invaded a local museum, which was really fabulous! special exhibit on john muir! california history! good for everyone 15-73, not a one of whom would have preferred sales crushes at the mall.

kathy a. said...

also -- we saw yarn-bombing outside the movie theater in our town, AND at the museum! YAY! my aunt did not know about this form of artistic expression, but thought it was wonderful. the museum's entrance was heavily decorated with knitting and crochet -- railings, benches, chairs.

kathy a. said...

ok, just on schedule, the other-shoe-drops whine: my SILfH's first ex just called because he got a nasty christmas call from my MIL, about her daughter, threatening to sue him and everybody. and there is more from the past couple weeks.

most of my family is easier. not all, and not all the time. i was really hoping this whole mess was in remission for a bit.

amy said...

My seedless clementines have seeds in them. Big ones. This makes me disproportionately sad.

amy said...

Clementine follow up W: every segment had at least two seeds, most had three, and one even had four. FOUR! There was as much seed as there was fruit meat. *grump*

W: my daughter received a gift that has made her the single most annoying person in the house. This is quite a feat, actually, as the title is usually held by Tater, who is three and is therefore developmentally obligated to be annoying. This gift has created many, ah, let's call them 'parenting opportunities', which is fine except I kind of wanted to relax and enjoy my days off. *grump*

I love the idea of yarn-bombing. Would love to see it in my town!

Sarah at ratatat said...

Amy - Old Skool for the clementine whine for sure. I hate that!

Wishing all of the pixies a happy holiday - Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah!

In bad news travels fast - my grandmother seems to have spread the word of the impending divorce amongst the family. Which meant I didn't have anyone ask me how I was the whole day ;-) But my cousin who has been divorced talked to me a for a while and my mean uncle was almost friendly. And my and his new wife, both recently divorced and now married had lots of advice.

Whine: not sure any of the advice was relevant. But it wasn't hurtful.

AW: I'll take what I can get.

Whine: more unbloggable drama. Sigh.

kathy a. said...

second the old skool nomination!

sarah -- they're circling the family wagons. sorry about the unbloggable misery.

Sue said...

Amy for Old Skool.

((((Sarah))))

W: here's the week in review (so far)....... Christmas Eve & shaking hands with ten gazillion people I haven't seen in a year. Christmas Day - truthfully, quite easy. I didn't have to much but clean up. Boxing Day - stayed at home feeling uber-lazy. Day After Boxing Day - ah, the fun!! Fever Day!

Running around 100.5 right now. Mt teeth hurt and I can feel where every hair on my body is attached. Ugh.

W: funeral tomorrow for a grand woman who lived a full life (93 years). Thankfully, I was ready for the service on Friday last week, or I would be sunk. Here's hoping for the miracle that is neo-citron.......

'nite pixies! Stay well!

Sue said...

Good news. Fever is gone, body aches still there but tolerable.

Best of all AW: No barks.

I consider any night a success when all signs point toward the need of *ahem* the bucket, but said bucket is not used by morning.

I am speaking about three octaves lower than usual, so I'm extra glad we have no hymns for the service - only contemplative moments of listening to her favourite composers.

I can do this. Totally. Then I will come home and collapse so I can catch up on my sleep for the wedding rehearsal/wedding tomorrow and Friday.

Yay for no barks!!! Seriously, it's a Christmas/Hanukkah miracle!

kathy a. said...

((( sue ))) busy busy, rest. and no bark, that's good, at least. and you're ready to bring comfort and joy again.

nugget of wisdom from the inlaw problem(s) -- people who swear up and down they aren't speaking to one another should keep their word!!! when "speaking" (by which i mean screaming threats at one another) means more angst all around...

on the up side -- some great work news this week! several flavors, with many beneficial effects!

Sarah at ratatat said...

Oh Sue. Get well! And no bark is v good news.

Hmm-more unbloggable whining. Can we just say that when you decide to spill your guts, you can't get embarrassed when people know more than you want them too?

AW: glass half empty seems to be my base disposition. I am just hanging out there, even if the smile on my face upsets some people. Yes, this is a hard time, but crying doesn't help us. And it doesn't make me feel better. At least not crying in public.

KathyA - yes, if you're not speaking, don't speak! Such true words.

Liz Miller said...

Snow.

(and hugs to all).

Sue said...

AW: Really fun wedding rehearsal tonight. We're renting space at a bigger church, and the pastor there was so helpful through the whole thing.

W: I definitely have the flu. Temperature for three days, general puky feeling (still no barks - sheer determination there), and - the fun part - NO voice. Oh my goodness.

AW: colleague from rented church space said he could step in as needed tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

kathy a. said...

sue, hope today was better! good you had the backup, in case.

liz -- snoooow!

sarah, i'm in favor of cluesticking everybody who thinks because they heard something, they should just tell you their uninformed opinions. especially if they think you should be wallowing, when what you need to do is trudge on through. you're holding your head high, and we're with ya. xoxo

amy, i hope the battery fairy has been by to disable the annoying toy as needed. ;)

W/AW of privileged problems, parenting adults division: daughter finally got around to cancelling her internet in DC, 10 days after moving home. maybe the gas will be shut off eventually. daughter may hate the occasional nagging, but the bills are in her name.

esperanza said...

We're back! Yay for home.

Prominent whine: Recently retired dad has turned into Grumpy Old (Depressed) Man. Sigh. Not sure how to help, or if it's possible. 'Twas a long week.

Sue said...

Esperanza - my Dad has been asked to "retire" by the College of Physicians & Surgeons because he is over 80. He's only been working half days, mostly doing Veteran annual medicals so they can collect their benefits.

I'm ver concerned about his depression re-surfacing upon retirement. In other words, I hear ya.

Did one load of laundry today, then slept for three hours. At this rate, Mount Pre-Holiday Laundry will be done in time to put the sweaters away for summer. Ack.

AW: got through the wedding last night. It was amazing, and my voice held out until the end, then I crackled a bit.

W: I am not healthy enough to be at work tomorrow. I cannot take another Sunday off or the chair of my M&P committe's head will explode. I've delegated most of the service to others and will arrive later than usual and leave immediately, but dang, I wish I were sleeping in instead.

Like the funeral and the wedding, I'll take it one step at a time, do the best I can and accept every bit of help that is offered.

esperanza said...

Oh, Sue. Not good. Hope you feel better soon.

Talked to dad tonight and he sounded a bit better. I know the family overload in the house is hard on him anyway (he's an introvert, and I know whereof I speak on introverts).

Sarah at ratatat said...

Esperanza and Sue - Hugs for your dads and the aftermath of their retirements. My dad had an interesting transition to retirement - volunteering fills a lot of hours. If they like that sort of thing.

Sue - wishing you a long well-deserved rest after today. Get well!

KathyA - hope your daughter gets everything canceled sooner rather than later.

Happy New Year Pixies! Wishing us all the best for 2012.