The Aftermath

This is a duplicate of our CB site:

It is Christmas day and I just finished laughing so hard, I had tears falling out of my eyes. We are listening to public radio as they play a series of readings that are Christmas related. There was David Sedares who is a comic genius, but it was Kevin Kling who had me crying with his story about Christmas dinner at the kid’s card table.

I awoke this morning to the face of an elf looming over mine. It was J, who announced that it was time to get up and start the carnage. He complained that his sister refused to rise, thereby holding his Christmas unwrapping hostage. I suggested calm as I rose to don my ceremonial green Christmas nightshirt which sees the light of day only once a year, thereby saving on laundry wear and tear.

By the time the coffee was made, the dog walked and fed, and the paper retrieved, both children were present and planted in front of the tree. J had spent his solo time by sorting the packages into two huge piles and one thankfully small one. The next hour was spent converting hours of careful wrapping, taping, and ribboning into a single mound of shredded paper, ribbon, and bows.

You will have to imagine how it looked because I was too busy enjoying the process and writing down names and gifts for the later, tortuous “thank you card” sentencing to take pictures. Somehow, Santa managed to get the right things in the right sizes, the requested books and movies, and even a couple of unexpected things that will hopefully provide many years of pleasure and service.

Now, it is time to pack our bags for our early morning departure tomorrow. We also have to put all the ornaments and tree lights away and escort the tree outside to shed the rest of its needles in places that don’t need vacuuming. (stuff happens now)

I am exhausted already and the day is not yet half over. The tree is down and outside. The family sitting area off the kitchen is now back to its “normal” appearance. The turtle tank in J’s room is cleaned with new water. The various presents have been secreted away wherever new treasures go to live. There are open and partially filled suitcases in every bedroom. I am in a mild panic knowing that we three set off tomorrow on a cross country journey for the first time without our chief project manager. I feel unqualified as a replacement.

In part, I put this on myself, knowing that we have to leave at an obscenely early hour tomorrow when none of our brains will be functioning at peak capacity (what is that like? I can’t remember). So, I mentally make lists, promising myself to write them down before promptly forgetting them. I wind up in some other part of the house with a vague feeling of having forgotten something, but that is such a common occurrence that some of the urgency is lessened. My mantra is “credit card, contact case, glasses; credit card, contact case, glasses; credit……” You get the picture.

I don’t think I have been to northern California at this time of year before. It looks like we will be seeing rain and pretty cool temps over all. We had thought that we would go up to Lake Tahoe to do some skiing, but it sounds like they have had more rain than snow up there, so K will have to wait a bit to try out her new skis and boots.

I am looking forward to this break, a chance to visit with west coast family and take a break from being the single adult in charge. I look forward to good food, good wine, good conversation, and a chance to introduce my kids to some great places. San Francisco is now definitely on the agenda as we revise our itinerary to make better use of the weather out there. Both K and J have expressed a strong desire to do this and I am only too happy to oblige. SF is one of my favorite cities and it will be fun (and emotional) to share with my children some of the favorite places that C and I enjoyed.

So, it will be a bit before we put up a new update. If anything unusual occurs, we will drop a comment off in the guest book. I hope this comes to you as you sit back and enjoy your holiday. Best to all of you from the three of us (oh, and Sophie the Wonder Dawg too).

P