Due to the whole staying-up-til-3-am thing the night before, Christmas Day got a late start. I woke up around 10 and Liz, Albert, and I got dressed and went down to open our stockings. We have to wait at the top of the stairs before we can go down to see the stockings which are hung over the mantel in the front room which is at the bottom of the stairs. I'm hoping this is the last year we did that. o.O Liz wanted coffee before we did anything and I wanted my hair done (Liz did a french braid for me). Albert still wants us to go down in our PJs. OH well. Anyway, our stockings had mostly candy in them but I also got a funky Christmas bracelet and a reusable lint roller (that you just rinse off to clean it).

We had breakfast around noon (oops!) which consisted of Egg Puff (egg, cheese, and bread casserole), Praline Topped French Toast casserole, BACON, and fruit salad. Yum, yum, yum. Everyone was up, dressed, and coffee'ed for breakfast. :-)

It took us a while to open all the presents (and mom kept disappearing to wrap more. :-P), but here's what I finally ended up with:
( the haul )

Adam arrived after we exchanged the bulk of the presents and Karin left shortly after. For dinner we had a standing rib roast that was extremely delicious. We had roasted potatoes (that were the boiled potatoes the day before), delicious creamed spinach, and more of the loaf of bread I made on Christmas Eve morning. Everything was very good!

After dinner, we watched Beyond the Pale (Jim Gaffigan's first DVD stand-up show). HILARIOUS. I bought it as a share gift for the family. :-) When that was over, dessert was ready - Risgrynsgröt (swedish rice pudding) and cookies. YUMMY! After dessert, we finally finished opening the rest of the presents (presents for Adam and a couple others). It was about 11:30pm when we were finished and Mike headed home so he could rest up before he had to work on Friday. Adam left shortly after than and then I accidentally kept Mom and Liz up until 1:30am looking at cake wrecks. :-D

Wednesday (Christmas Eve), I had work in the morning and around noon Sathish told us we could go home for the day. Best tradition ever. :-)

I went home and the loaf of bread I had started before I left for work in the morning was just finished. Garlic Herb Bread! Yum. I took it out to let it cool off, and then I finished wrapping presents, finished baking cookies, and packed up my clothes. Getting everything in the car was a royal pain in the you-know-where because it was POURING RAIN and the parking lot was a SHEET OF ICE STILL! I really don't understand it when there is rain and ice is not melting. :-( It made the drive over to my parents a little iffy on the back-back roads, but otherwise was okay.

I got to my parent's house around 3 and helped mom get things ready for the Smörgåsbord. Aunt Karin came not very long after me and we chatted while getting things ready for the evening. This year, the Smörgåsbord consisted of: rye bread, wasa bread, the bread I made, Swedish Meatballs, boiled potatoes, a small ham, pickled herring and sour cream, Gouda (cheese), Havarti (cheese), Fontina (cheese), and Bruna Bönor (Swedish baked brown beans). Karin also brought some excellent cheese spreads with crackers that we nibbled on as the food was getting ready to be served.

Lindsay (my good friend from High School) and Liz's boyfriend (Adam) joined us for dinner and we ate around 5:30. Mike had to work until 5:30, but ended up actually working until 6:30 and didn't get to my parent's house until after 8pm. He was just in time for cookies! (And we saved him some food from dinner, too.)

Much fun was had until I had to leave to be at the church at 10pm and Mom and Albert had to be there at 10:15. The church was bizarrely empty for a Christmas Eve service (Where were all the C/E-ers??!?! Don't know!) The weather had cleared up by that point and all the ice was melted and it was 40-something degrees out. Not sure what the low turn-out was about.

My solo went so well. I can not WAIT to get the video online to show all of you. It just went really well. No one set anything on fire while having the candles lit, except that Liz did mention to get wax on my camcorder. At least it was just on the top part and I could scrape it off easily.

After church, we got home at about 1:30 and Mike went straight to bed (he slept in the basement on the sectional - super comfy). Mom, Liz, and I put together the breakfast casseroles for the morning, and somehow I didn't get to sleep until 3am!!!! INSANITY. I haven't stayed up that late since probably New Years Eve last year.

Today was my last day going to Shells for church for a while. I told Barb (choir director that suggested I try out for the Pine Street job) and she was so excited for me! Then I told her I wouldn't be able to come to church anymore. ha. I don't think she really thought about that. :-/ I think I could make an 8am service maybe once a month. I want to get into a routine of getting up earlier anyway, so I could see it happening. I told Pastor, too, and she was happy for me (not quite as much as Barb who was practically jumping up and down), but disappointed I wouldn't be around much anymore. I do have a meeting on the 24th, so it's not like I won't ever see them again. :-P

After church, I came straight home and had some lunch (tortilla pizza with deer sausage) and got a present together for our visit to Randy (Mike's former co-worker from KB) and Shannon's house. We got to see Jacob, their baby who is only 6 weeks old! For some reason I thought he was older than that, but he was sooooo adorable! I held him for 2 hours. I wanted to take him home with us, but Shannon wanted her boy back. Psh. Whatever. :-P His fingers and toes were soooo tiny! :-D

Anyway, Randy made stuffed flounder, broccoli, and fettuccine Alfredo for dinner! Very yummy! And a good time was had by all (but I was slightly disappointed they didn't let me keep Joshua - boo).

One of my good lj-friends just posted these questions which I thought were great:
(sillyliss, I am adjusting these a bit!)


What are your reasons are for writing -- therapy, social activity, record of events, keeping in touch?
When I started this LJ, it was a bit of a status symbol. Getting an lj required an invite and I managed to con thwack into giving me one of his. LJ was always about documenting my life - starting at the time, with my college life, then moving onto internships and co-ops, and now work --- and ALWAYS social life. It was also helpful with communicating with friends and organizing plans and trips and other stuff like that. While living at UC, we all had LJ and used it to alert each other about apartment stuff and also organize apartment activities and such.


Do your real life friends and family read your journal?
A lot of my LJ friends are real life friends and a family member as well. My family and extended family know about lj and I try to post unlocked entries about general stuff that is "up" with me. All work-related posts are friends locked so I can speak freely (and sometimes vent).

Do you specifically keep your journal from them so you have space apart from them?
LJ was never intended as a space to be separate from anyone in my life - if anything, it was a place to bring together different parts of my life (college friends, high school friends, and family), however, I have used many different friends groups to keep certain personal topics private.

Friday after work, I finished packing up, stopped off at the bank and then drove down to visit Cindi in Winchester, VA. I missed a lot of the pretty views on the way down since it got dark. I drove through PA, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia! Woo! Lots of interesting stuff along I-81 as well. Finding Cindi's apartment was easy enough. We went to Red, Hot, and Blue for dinner. I had Cajun Catfish which was very yummy and our drinks were served in mini-pitchers which were really not so mini. The food & the company were very good. ;-) After dinner we went to Borders and looked around which was fun.

Saturday we had egg puff that I brought for breakfast. I watched Cindi work on a worksheet about meter for her 9th graders. Then we went out shopping. First Staples, then the dollar store, then we had lunch buffet at China Jade (which was okay), and then we went back to Borders so that Cindi could get a Beatles CD to play in her class room. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is in Anapestic Tetrameter (a fact that I will probably never forget now)! Who would have thought?!? When we got back to Cindi's place, we did a craft! YAY craft! We used super glue & attached buttons (from the $1 store) to some magnets (from staples) to make some decorative magnets for Cindi to use on the blackboard in her classroom. They came out really nicely and we had magnets leftover to play with so that Cindi can make more if she finds anything cool to glue to them. Ed came up around dinner time and we ordered a pizza (and then went to get it) and hung out and talked all night. Around 10, Ed left and Cindi and I watched videos on the internet until we could no longer stay awake.

Sunday, we had more egg puff for breakfast, and then we went to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. The Museum was very awesome and we spent a lot of time there. We also had lunch in the Tea Room which was quite delightful. (Square Club sandwiches, salad, tea, & very large grapes). By the time we finished at the museum, it was about 2:30pm. We went back to Cindi's and I packed up and hit the road. Driving back was nice because it was sunny and I got to see the beautiful countryside. It is a very relaxing ride! I stopped in Chambersburg to see Mike since he was there for inventory at the KBToys in the Chambersburg Mall. That was a good leg-stretching break.

I went straight to the grocery store (big sale that is ending today) and bought a bunch of meat (loose sausage & boneless/skinless chicken breasts - both $0.99 a pound), 12 jars of Ragu sauce, 6 12oz bags of cheese, and a bunch of other stuff totaling to over $100! Major savings, though, and I won't have to buy any of that stuff again for a long time. Since I had to unpack the car from the weekend and lug the groceries up the stairs, it was about 5 trips! Good workout, for sure. :-)

After I got settled in, I packed up & froze the meat that I bought & cooked up some old apples that I had in my fridge that were taking up space. Now I've got filling for the dessert calzones that I'm going to attempt to make. I really need to steal one of my mom's rolling pins next time I'm over there.

er, Lo Cash Cowboys. Whatever.


Yesterday, I got off of work around lunch time, came home, packed up the car, and went to pick up Mike. From Mike's we headed to downtown Harrisburg to visit Aunt Karin in the hospital (she had knee replacement surgery on Thursday morning). Other than taking a non-shortcut, I manuvered downtown pretty well. I hate driving in Harrisburg. I don't know why, but I get all nervous and flustered. I never had that happen when driving in DC or Rochester (either one), so I don't know what's so different about Harrisburg, but anyway.

We got a text from Jones when we were in the car which said he wasn't going to be done with soundcheck until 5:30ish so we decided we would take our time visiting with Karin and get to MD when we got there. We visited with Karin for about an hour before Mom showed up around 2pm. She was extremely lucid compared to the day before and our visit went really well. Mom showed up at 2pm and then Dad and Liz showed up around 2:30, methinks. About that time Mike and I ventured upstairs to the cafeteria for some lunch. Mike had a make-your-own-sandwich and I had a salad and a cup of soup (yum). The cafeteria is on the top floor and we got to eat while looking out over the Susquehanna River which was really very beautiful. We went down to visit a bit longer, but Karin was on her way to Physical Therapy, so we tagged a long and watched for a bit before we said adieu. I was completely amazed by the amount of mobility she had less than 36 hours after surgery. Truly Awesome.

Mike and I only encountered a bit of traffic on the way down and I think we arrived in town around 5pm. We met up with Cindi and Jones (and Jones' Mom) and then went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and ate too much. :-P It was very good, though. They have a very affordable 6oz sirloin steak. I was impressed. Mike devoured his burger, so I think he liked it too. We have one of those restaurants around here some place, so I'm thinking we should go there more often (or, ya know, when I want a steak).

After dinner we swung by the hotel to get more earplugs and to figure out what to wear to the show (for maximum comfort). I should have been thinking - which of these clothes would I rather smelled awful and of smoke? But I wasn't. Oh well.

Of course, the venue and the band were on Jones Standard Time, so instead of the show starting at 9, it was pushed back to 10 and then really didn't start until about 10:15. :-P We spent the first set down on the dance floor, and then moved around more during the second set. I am so not used to standing for that long. My feet are still killing me.

We didn't get out of there until I think 1:30-1:45. It was a smashing show and Ryan really did a bang-up job playing his fiddle and mandolin. It is like some sort of out-of-body experience watching him jam up there with these guys..... LIEK OMG HES FAMOUS.

We parted ways with Cindi in the parking lot - hopefully we will get to visit with her more often now that she is close. Hopefully our schedules will mesh at some point.

This morning we went to McDonalds for breakfast and hit the road by 10:30. Mike was back at his apartment by 11:45, I think. Sounds about right. I went to Karn's to get 5 pounds of chicken and other groceries. I'm definitely going there to get some turkey for the after thanksgiving thanksgiving that Mike and I are going to have. Their meat is fabulous looking, tasting, and all local. YAY.

Now, I'm going to find my gloves again, fabreeze my pants, and head over to the hospital for another visit.

over and out.