Belated report of my holiday week with my family

Just in case anyone was left in suspense after my post on the 25th…

On the 25th, my sister Jill and her family finally arrived just before 9:00pm–a delay of about four and half hours! We never did get a real answer as to why. Jill thought it had something to do with a protest by the United crews about working too much overtime, or the pilots were protesting and the crew was “supporting” them–or something. In any event, I had dinner all ready for them, because dad and I ate earlier and I kept everything warm in the oven. I’d made a pork roast rubbed with roasted garlic, brown rice pilaf with vegetables, and fresh broccoli, and I’d gotten my sister’s favorite wine. (On one of their “progress report” calls, I told Jill, “I’ve got a bottle of shiraz waiting for you,” and she said, “Oh, I am SO there.” Poor Jill…!)

After dinner, we opened presents–which was the second presents session for Jill & Co! They’d had their own Christmas morning before they left for the airport. We ended up having a nice ending to the day. I’d surprised dad with a stocking (“The Holly King dropped this off at my house for you”) containing some socks he asked for, sugar-free candy and lots of mixed nuts in the shell. I also renewed dad’s Patriots newsletter subscription and gave him The Bourne Ultimatum on DVD and a Patriots “tailgating rug” (and what a story there is behind that). I gave my brother-in-law two silk thermal undershirts. I gave Jill some Bath and Body Works products in her favorite scent and some household hints books (she asked for these, from a specific catalog). I gave my niece a box of expensive clarinet reeds her clarinet teacher likes her to use (and I gave Jill the catalog for the company where I bought them, for $10 less per box than they’re paying at home), and a box full of crocheting supplies, because my niece is into crocheting. I gave my nephew The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and a lyre for his trumpet. It took me a whole evening to wrap all the gifts I had for everyone! 🙂

I got some nice things. My dad had been making mysterious allusions for weeks about “your ‘big’ present” and I was somewhat nervous about it. It turned out to be this reversible red/black velvet cape from the Pyramid Collection. I get the Pyramid Collection catalogs, but I’ve never bought anything from them, for two reasons: one, I can make anything in the catalog for far less money, and two, everything in the catalog is too long for me, because I’m only five feet tall. So, the cape is about six inches too long and I’ll have to hem it–nothing I can’t do, but it will take a while because of the lining and the fact that there is about seventeen acres of fabric. It certainly is dramatic!

Jill & Co. gave me a very funny T-shirt that says, “Careful, or you’ll end up in my novel.” *ROFL* (If you want one of those, you can get it from What On Earth.) I also got a bunch of books and DVDs from my wish list, including The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days by Fern Reiss, The Frugal Editor by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, The Sixties Papers by Judith and Stewart Albert, Before the Count by Margo Collins, the “Back to the Future” trilogy, “The Breed” (obscure vampire movie with Adrian Paul), and the two-disk special edition of “Singin’ in the Rain” (which makes a great exercycling video–most musicals do!). I inadvertently got two copies of Reiss’s book, so I’ll have a credit to add to a couple of Amazon gift certificates I already had. And, my dad’s older brother sent him Tom Brokaw’s Boom! Voices of the Sixties, which my dad sniffed at. I’m looking for research materials for another novel in my series–one that is set in the 60s and early 70s–and I’d seen Boom! on Amazon and was wishing I could afford it. When I said that, dad handed it to me! “But…I didn’t want it that badly!” I said, but he really isn’t interested in it. So…thank you, uncle George! *wry smile*

The next four days, I spent a lot of time up at the lake. My brother-in-law and the kids went on their skiing jaunt from Wednesday through Friday; Jill, dad and I went to see “Sweeney Todd,” which I am afraid none of us liked. I treated and bought all our tickets for that. On Wednesday I called my insurance company and then glass companies, and my car’s rear window was replaced on Friday afternoon without any complications or problems. I may need to replace the rear window wiper, but I’ll worry about that later. On Saturday Jill cooked her big “holiday dinner” of roast turkey, which was great. I made the gravy, with a 2/3 reduced stock I’d cooked at home, and I made homemade cranberry sauce, and I also took over carving the turkey, and got complimented by my dad for how well I did it. (The secret: sharpen the knife until it will split a hair.) After dinner we watched the New England Patriots make history, which was pretty cool. I never thought I’d have a warm fuzzy glow from watching a football game, but I did! I drove home that night feeling all cheerful and chortly, just from watching the game!

Since then, I’ve been catching up on everything that I let slide before and during the holiday week–I’m still not up to speed, especially with writing, editing and Blogcritics posts. 🙁 I treated dad to “The Golden Compass” on New Year’s Eve and we both loved it. I shoveled snow on Monday and I shoveled snow again on Tuesday, and that was a pain. Dad gave me some Christmas money and I’ve spent it on an order from TigerDirect: an external DVD burner that I can use with either computer, a 1-GB memory card for my digital camera and a USB flash drive so I can do daily data backups.

So, that was my holiday, which wasn’t too bad…but, man. My productivity went right down the tubes. I’ve got to recollect where I left my discipline!