Shana’s Neighborhood

Every weekend in December is eventful this year. The good kind of eventful, filled with little joys and not headaches.

 

This past Saturday was the Christmas parade in Old Town Clovis. I love the charm of Old Town, and I'm glad I live there. But the Christmas parade really sucks. It is an endless stream of ritzy car clubs showing off their fancy cars and business driving their vans/trucks to advertise. I'm used to the Santa Lucia festival in the little "Swedish" town where I grew up where vendors set up little booths of handmade goods and treats, and the parade was childrens groups and marching bands and choirs and church youth floats. Although I was glad to go drink hot chocolate and see the crowds of people dressed in jackets and hats and in good Christmas spirit, I wish Clovis residents weren't so snooty.

 

Sunday was my sister's baby shower that I hosted at my apartment lounge. What a great facility to have access to. It's recently been re-done, and has everything you'd need for a nice event. I thought that the shower went nicely; everyone seemed entertained and satisfied even when I thought I was lacking, and my sister got more gifts than I've ever seen in one place! It was slightly emotional- my sister started crying from the moment I welcomed everyone to the shower, cried through opening the gifts, cried trying to express thanks. So, of course, I cried too. Many of the gifts were heirlooms from her in-laws, others were really sentimental and special, some were necessities, all were cute. She was so grateful for everyone's support. Everyone left happy, and Chris took my crying ass out to pizza and beer afterward.

 

I cannot believe that in eight weeks I am going to see a child being born. It is especially incredible that it will be my sister becoming a mother. They thought they'd never get a child, and our family has waited so long for this little blessing.

 

This coming weekend is my office Christmas dinner, which should be nice.  I also have very big plans to put together a gingerbread house from a kit that Chris's mom gave him. SO thrilling!

 

The following weekend my in-laws have rented some kind of carriage for the whole family to ride on down a popular lane in town that is always lit extravagantly for Christmas. There will be somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty of us I imagine. I intend to take my biggest thermos of booze hot cocoa along for the ride.

 

Then, of course, the weekend after that is Christmas and more importantly, a 4-day weekend.

 

December is full. Before I know it, January and a whole new round of birthdays will be upon me. I better get my shopping done!

So .....   the mother of the groom woke with a really blood shot eye;  the sister-bridesmaid broke her shoe before she left the house; our side of the church was lean in guests (small family) and had to be filled with the bride's family and friends; the mother of the groom and her manservant got terribly lost on the way to the reception and did not get to hang out drinking in the "green" room with the bridal party before being introduced to the crowd and the groom's trousers split when he was hoisted into the air by guests. Oh, and the first set of professional photos taken at the groom's place have me in what can only be described as "house shoes" because I forgot to take my "real" shoes with me to his apartment!!   But, for all that it was a great day!  I think it was the best wedding I have ever been to - though I have to wonder if young people just don't want to talk to each other because everything was so loud!   

The church was a lovely old Catholic one in Hunters Hill  

This is my daughter, the Princess, who was a bridesmaid  Here is the bride and her parents: - before we left their home  This is my other son playing groomsman: Cute brother & sister act - this is the 6th time they have done this!!! (mother in bright pink) Here comes the bride:

The holidays are in full effect, so tell us: What's your favorite holiday song? Bonus points if you share it with us!

 

OH there are SO MANY! I LOVE Christmas music.

 

I'm partial to old versions of classics like "White Christmas," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and the traditional hymns.

 

BUT:

 

Every time I hear the original orchestral arrangement of Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride," I feel a tingle of winter giddiness bubbling up inside.

All I really want for Christmas is a way to lose 30 pounds without having to lift a finger. A Christmas miracle! Hallelujah!

 

I'm makin' a list of things I wouldn't mind getting for Christmas. This list started out as TWO items, and then my friend told me about making wish lists on Amazon.com, and it started getting really out of hand. Usually I have no ideas, and it drives my family crazy trying to figure out what to get me. Recieving is hard for me. I love to give, and I love this season for the joy and compassion and togetherness, and hate the commercial crap. And I always have felt guilty about people buying or giving me things. Yeah, I'm over that. Finally. I've realized that my family is gonna buy me presents anyway, so I might as well help them out, right? So I made a list for fun. Of course, I wouldn't expect or feel entitled to getting anything at all.

 

My list ranges from Absolutely-Absurd-Would-Never-Ever-Expect-Someone-to-Buy-It-For-Me to Not-Too-Terrible. You'll be able to tell which ones go in which category:

 

DONA certified doula workshop fee: $400

A KitchenAid Mixer in Candy Apple Red: $334.99

An apartment-sized desk, project table, or writing table: $100-???

The DONA certification packet and application: $60.00 or

The DONA certification packet without application: $45.00

This cheap set of 10 frames from Target: $24.99

An adult fitness hula-hoop: $21.95-$25.00

A cozy, crackling WoodWick candle: $9.99-$21.99

A Classic Pen Set: $12.99 on Amazon.com

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" DVD: $9.99

Gold-colored ball earrings: $9.99

1-3 guitar wall-mounts: $9.99

"Stranger Than Fiction" on DVD: $1.02-$8.49

 

 

A special thanks to Meg for bringing enlightenment to my world and showing me the wonders of the Amazon.com Wishlist feature, because although I knew Amazon was amazing, I didn't realize the extent to which that amazing-ness reaches.

 

Happy December, y'all.

 

This weekend I put up the Christmas tree! Last year we had no money, but my bosses gave us a gift of enough money to get a tree because they wanted us to have that memory on our first married Christmas. This year we once again walked across the street to the Savemart and bought another $20 Douglas Fir. He took one end, I took the other, and we ran across the street and through the apartment complex with our Christmas tree like two ghetto fools. 

 

It's pretty much becoming the best moment of my year. I'll be sad when we move and have to actually put the Christmas tree in the Jeep to get it home.

 

I took out the box of Christmas decorations we brought from the dollar store last year and got to decorating the apartment for the season. Last year we used all but a few cents of that $60, and it got us everything we really need to decorate a tree, plus two stockings and a couple of additional things (the 99-cent Store really is a lifesaver!) This year we added a nice tree skirt from WalMart to try and keep the cat out of the tree water. It's nice having the tree stand and decorations already- we only spent money on the tree itself, plus that tree skirt. I love Christmas decor. Growing up, my mother never went overboard on Chrismas decorations, but always just enough so that everywhere you looked there was a little holiday touch. I remember candle-lit nights and the Advent calendar, snowmen and reindeer peeking out from the bookshelves.

 

I strung the lights and tinsel on, then placed our cheap balls all over it with the two nice ornaments we have in clear view on the front. I'd like to start slowly building a collection of keepsake ornaments, one year at a time. I put the glittery start on top, and lit it up!  I hung the stockings on the shelves over the couch, using two candles as weights, put some hand-me-down fake holly along the TV chest, replaced the figurines on the shelves with snowmen and nut-crackers, put the reindeer my mom painted for me when I was little up on the chest. I lit the candles in the room, heated a mug of cocoa and BAM: Christmas!

 

The best part is coming home in the evening to see my little living room glowing with joy, the pretty little tree ravaged around the bottom with loose tinsel hanging and ornaments strewn across the mussed-up tree skirt. The tree is our Christmas gift to the kitty.

Its funny how some people try do things every day, over and over and never get better at what they are trying to do. I pretty much show up at school at the same day, every day. Each day as I sit in my Jeep and munch on my bagel, I see the same girl drive in with her snazzy supped up street racer of a car and attempt to park. EVERY DAY this girl tries to back in to the same space about 4 times then gets mad and zooms away to some other spot where she finally pulls in nose first. When she does land a keeper spot it’s usually after giving up on three other spots and usually after the second or third try at each of the previous spots. She will zoom in, get out and walk around her car, get back in, back out and pull right back in the same spot, get out and so on. She hasn’t figured out that if you back up and pull forward without turning the wheel, you will end up in the same place. She always looks so frustrated. Today I almost walked over to help her out by telling her there are point along the edge of her hood that are in line with her front tires and if you use those to help point your car, you will end up in the right spot every time. At the last minute I decided not to. If I try to help her out she just might scream and call the police because a strange man walked up to her in a public place. OR if I say something and she does learn how to park then what am I supposed to watch while I eat my bagel every morning? Like I always say, “some times it’s the simple things that keep us entertained”.  

WOW, today has been pretty crazy and it’s not even noon yet. Today is registration for the winter quarter day so last night I got all my classes is order so I would be ready right at 8:00 am when the online registration opened. I got up at 6:00am, logged in and got everything ready so all I had to do was hit enter. When 8:00am rolled around I hit enter and bam! Nothing but errors! So I get dressed in about 10 seconds and race down town to school only to find no parking AND 300 people in line ahead of me. NICE! When I finally got up to see someone who could help me the woman says all of the errors are because I was trying to take to many units? I told her I was full time so I should be able to sign up for up to 20 units and I was having issues with 12? She says “oh you are listed as part time”? Huh? Ok, now I get to wait in giant ass line two to get a counselor to change my status to full time. When I got that fixed it was back in to giant ass line 1 to get the rest of my classes. Sheesh! I ended up having breakfast in the school dining facility which isn’t to bad accept the large coffee tastes like it was scalded. I don’t care, I’ll drink it anyway. I only have one more week of class then one final left in this quarter. It’s gone by real fast but I have learned a lot. It’s kind of like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hose but will all of the extra time I invested in my school work the fire hose water doesn’t hurt like it usually does. Next quarter starts up on January 4^th. I will be taking English, Math and PE. Yeah, PE at 42! This might be pretty entertaining.       

WOW, today has been pretty crazy and it’s not even noon yet. Today is registration for the winter quarter day so last night I got all my classes is order so I would be ready right at 8:00 am when the online registration opened. I got up at 6:00am, logged in and got everything ready so all I had to do was hit enter. When 8:00am rolled around I hit enter and bam! Nothing but errors! So I get dressed in about 10 seconds and race down town to school only to find no parking AND 300 people in line ahead of me. NICE! When I finally got up to see someone who could help me the woman says all of the errors are because I was trying to take to many units? I told her I was full time so I should be able to sign up for up to 20 units and I was having issues with 12? She says “oh you are listed as part time”? Huh? Ok, now I get to wait in giant ass line two to get a counselor to change my status to full time. When I got that fixed it was back in to giant ass line 1 to get the rest of my classes. Sheesh! I ended up having breakfast in the school dining facility which isn’t to bad accept the large coffee tastes like it was scalded. I don’t care, I’ll drink it anyway. I only have one more week of class then one final left in this quarter. It’s gone by real fast but I have learned a lot. It’s kind of like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hose but will all of the extra time I invested in my school work the fire hose water doesn’t hurt like it usually does. Next quarter starts up on January 4^th. I will be taking English, Math and PE. Yeah, PE at 42! This might be pretty entertaining.       

~

When I left DC on Thursday the temperature was in the 40's (below 10 C)......    when I landed in Sydney, Saturday morning, it was 100!!  (38C). 

I got heat stroke walking from the terminal to the car -  of course we walked further in the sunny car park than necessary because my son forgot where he parked. 

His car does not have air conditioning.......

I spent Saturday afternoon lying on his couch trying to cool down.

I spent a hot & balmy Saturday evening with my 3 children and my daughter-in-law-to-be and fifty of her closest relatives.

Sunday (still hot)  I spent with a friend I have known for over 40 years, in her air conditioned apartment.  We drank gin & tonics and laughed a lot.

Today I drove an injured friend around in his stick shift car.   I have not driven a stick shift in over 10 years.  I only stalled it twice.

I just learnt that, whilst the manservant is winging his way to Australia his bag is still in Chile.......  he arrives on Wednesday.  He is told his bag will arrive on Friday.  The wedding is on Saturday. 

My son has a 20 year old computer and internet connection slower than dial-up.  He has an iPhone so he doesn't care.

 

 

~

I love tourists ... really I do because they help my local economy but.. 

-  please stand to the right on the metro (train) escalators so that we locals, with things to do, can walk past on the left.  There is even a sign asking you.

-  and when you get to the top, or bottom, of the escalator please do not just stop there while you figure out where to go next.  There are 50 people about to trip up behind you.

-  Oh - and if a machine has a diagram of how a ticket should be inserted they really want you to insert your ticket that way!  

I think someone needs a drink ....... 

***

I wish all Americans a Happy & Safe Thanksgiving - even the tourists!