Christmas Commencing

Yesterday was all about the evening, well the late evening.  Both my wife and I were charging around in the driving rain yesterday putting the final touches on Christmas preparations.  I had a quick visit to the doctor’s office to get some blood drawn and then stopped by a store to pick up a last minute gift.  Since my wife was extremely harried (or so I thought) at home I called to see if she needed something from the store (trying to build up some brownie points).

She didn’t answer the phone so I tried her cell.  I asked her where she was and it turned out she was on the next aisle over which made for an unexpected but pretty cool mid-day reunion.

I Think We Got Enough Food

Since she was deeply involved in finishing up the last of the Christmas cookies I volunteered to make the drive down to Connecticut to pick up the kids by myself.  I’ve been so lucky lately with that accursed state’s highways that I even took along a book to read in case I arrived at the train station early.  I paid for my hubris in spades as Connecticut rose up and smote me in classical fashion.  I spent a lovely forty five minutes trapped in Hartford traffic in that same heavy rain before breaking free.  I arrived at the train station as my daughter and son in law called to report their arrival so things immediately improved.

The drive back was as easy as the drive down had been hard.  I’m beginning to think this is something personal between Connecticut and me.  The only times it’s really bad is when I’m driving alone.  My wife won’t miss many more trips.

We extricated the wife from her cookie making efforts for a late dinner at Zorba’s (but of course!).  While there, my son called to report his arrival at home and we vectored he and the MEF to our location.

Finally All Together at Zorba's - My Sangria Enraged Wife is Choking my Son

It truly felt that Christmas had started when I was seated around the table with these wonderful people.  The funniest event of the night  was my wife’s sangria.  She always has a glass at Zorba’s and asks for a cherry to be included.  I think she was truly exhausted from her herculean efforts at the house over the past few days because the sangria really hit her.

She only had half a glass and she was feeling a little tipsy.  My son in law opined that the cherry must have been laced with some kind of hallucinogenic drug.  She was so funny and extremely opinionated (well she doesn’t need the wine for that). 

The Daughter and I Trying Our Hands at Spritzing

We returned home to assist in the last batch of cookies – the Christmas staple – spritz cookies.  Each of the men tried to repair the cookie press to no avail.  This brought back some Christmas memories of my mother who had an annual battle with her cookie press while trying to make the exact same spritz cookies.  I think it’s actually part of the recipe – it’s never easy. 

The Cookies are all Lined up - Keto Vacation has Begun!!

The rest of the family gathered around the table to monitor these efforts and the MEF frosted sugar cookies she brought.  Buddy contributed by stealing some of those same cookies when no one was looking.  He resigned himself to incarceration with a knowing look of he’d done the crime and would now do the time.  After his short sentence in solitary he returned to assist my wife in preparing the Christmas Eve dinner.

Fresh Out of Jail - Buddy Helps Out in the kitchen

My son in law was in the championship game for his fantasy football league and the results depended on last night’s game.  He was monitoring it on his I-pad while we had the game on the TV but  muted.  As it got down to the final few minutes we all retired to the big screen where he went through a series of reversals and upswings.  It wasn’t decided until literally the last few seconds of the game.  He ended up winning by one point which was worth an extra $500 to him.  It easy to see why the NFL supports fantasy football so much because it had all of us deeply interested in a meaningless (to us) game. 

So good to have a full house again.