I finally read something today that made me feel more at peace with how roller coastery my feelings always are around Christmas (even though it's pretty screamingly obvious, I think, that in spite of what Hallmark tells us, Christmas is seldom uncomplicatedly joyous).
The kids came home! Matt went to get Eve and brought her home on the 19th, Angus flew in on the 20th. the 21st and 22nd there was more baking, family hang time and movie watching, Eve seeing her friends, Angus and I puzzling, everybody getting dog snuggles.
The 23rd we did the annual tree-decorating and Christmas photo shoot. Past props have included Nana's old teacups, The Collected Works of Shakespeare, covid masks, tools (the year the house was falling apart), champagne glasses, and wrapping paper tubes. I was feeling a little uninspired this year - we finally went with fake flowers.
We watched an episode of The Simpsons (it's the one show every member of the family likes) called Parahormonal Activity, in which Marge enters perimenopause. At the end, Eve said quietly "there's a really popular meme from Euphoria called 'Is this play about us?' I feel like that's relevant for you here." It was really, really funny and also *sobs hysterically*. Also, in the show the medical establishment has nothing to offer Marge for her issues but treats Homer's erectile dysfunction as a medical emergency, and Eve recalled a time in her lab where the prof asked them to guess the top three medical issues in terms of funding, and Lauren guessed longevity for number one, which is particularly hilarious because, of course, it's ED. The Simpsons is so educational!
Christmas Eve my parents always come over and I do appetizers. There was really great conversation - both my parents grew up in rural Saskatchewan, my mom on a farm and my dad in a 'hamlet' in Northern Saskatchewan, only 50 miles south of the Northwest Territories. The story Matt always brings up is that my dad could only ride his bike in the winter when the river froze and provided a flat service. He also couldn't go to school in winter when the river wasn't frozen enough, and in summer had to cross the river by boat.
Christmas Day our usual routine is we get up and do presents with the kids, then go to my parents' for breakfast (where my sister's family stays when they're here, which they were not), then come home and putter around or nap and then my parents come over for dinner. This year I proposed that we switch it up, and have my parents come here in the early afternoon, have an early dinner and finish up before we're all falling asleep.
I do ninety percent of the Christmas prep, up to Christmas Eve. My mom used to cook Christmas dinner, but now we do the turkey and my parents do the sides, and Angus picks up my parents and brings the food over. And by 'we' do the turkey, I mean Matt does the turkey, which is possibly the greatest Christmas gift of all. This means my Christmas responsibilities are basically over by Christmas morning, which is good because my body and brain have generally started shutting down by then.
Not gonna lie, I believe the plan was Pure Genius on my part. My parents came over, Angus got home from his Christmas weight-lifting, I put on The Muppet Christmas Carol just for fun, but my mom had never seen it and ended up loving it, we had a great dinner, drove my parents home and I still had time to finish the puzzle with Angus (we had to have dinner with it because it wasn't finished and we were determined to finish it before Angus left) and watch the three and a half hours of Stranger Things that dropped at eight p.m. with Eve (I did not have this in my mind when I made the plan, but wow, did it ever work out).
I was not feeling great when I went to bed last night - I've been taking cold meds non-stop to function and keep my Cough of Death at bay, and it was starting to make me feel icky. But I had an amazing sleep with only a couple of coughing spells, and today we are lounging around in our pajamas. Angus leaves tomorrow, which is sad, but Eve is here until the 30th, which is happy.
I hope everyone had some family time, some good food, some laughing, and some rest. And if not, I offer sympathy and love.
No comments:
Post a Comment