Me, I want a hula hoop

Words Written: “Party Favor,” 1671; Out of the Frying Pan, ~300
Writing Stats: it’s the holidays—the NY publishing world has shut down
Exercise: briskly walking through airports yet again

Happy Christmas and Blessed Yule, everyone! We’re on a flight from Chicago to Albany, NY, where we will collect my sister Debi (currently on her way from Atlanta to Albany) and drive a few hours’ north into the mountains and join the rest of my family. We got less than 4 hours’ sleep last night, so we’re kinda punchy…

We made sure we had two Netflix DVDs in hand for the trip, and watched My Super Ex-Girlfriend on the first flight. It was better than I expected, largely due to the presence of Eddie Izzard.

We opened a present each for the Solstice, and I squeed with excitement when I discovered that Ken found me a copy of Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Stained Black—an audiotape package of several of her horror stories! I’m a completist when it comes to Kris and Dean (except for their millions of media tie-in books—I pick them up when I find them used, but I know there are things out under pseudonyms I’m not privy to…), and I’ve had this on my list to find for years. He even found a sealed copy! But I’m not a collector in that sense, and I want to hear it…once I get my hands on a cassette player, since we don’t own one anymore. And I’ll have Kris sign it next time I’m up there. Beam. Meanwhile, I had Ken open Blackmore’s Night’s holiday CD, Winter Carols, so we could burn it and have it on my iPod to play while we’re in NY. (I found mini-speakers for the iPod, so we’ll have holiday music at the cabin.)

We then decided to open one gift a night until Xmas Eve, when we’d open the rest. The next night’s giftie was a pair of passport covers—and another discussion about where we want to go on our Big Trip this year. (Which reminds me: top priority in January is to get my passport renewed. I’ve had the paperwork and checks sitting here since mid-November; I just have to get my cute ass to the library.)

(I’ll ramble more about potential travel later. We have lots of places we want to go, including Britain, Australia and New Zealand, Hawaii, Machu Picchu, Venice…)

Ken opened another Neil Peart book, this one about riding his BMW bike between concerts. (Neil’s the drummer for Rush, considered one of the best drummers ever.) He’s really been into motorcycle travelogues over the past few years (Ken, I mean) so I’m on a quest to find more.

I don’t remember what I opened when after that, so now you’re just going to get it in the order I think of things.

Melusine sent her annual handmade ornament, this time purple and silver cross-stitch. So pretty! And she surprised me with a handmade purple-and-silver embroidered and beaded pouch/purse! I took pictures of both and will post them when I get home.

I got a pretty handmade bracelet from Tina, who sent it over with Ken when he saw her in October. I’m not sure if it’s officially a Yule gift, because he said he forgot to give it to me until now.

One of the rare items of Styx memorabilia out there is the Crystal Ball paperweight. (CB being their 1976 album.) I’ve longed for one, and Ken has spent years trying to find me one. I guess I never fully realized the efforts he’s been putting into it. He says he has people all over the country keeping their eyes out for one. Anyway, because he still hadn’t managed to get his hands on one, he broke down and made me one. That’s right. He made me a snowglobe with the CB album cover (front and back) inside. Is that not the coolest and sweetest thing ever? I love it more than if it was the actual paperweight.

He also gave me one of those little wooden kids’ toys; kind of a puppet on a base, and when you press up on the bottom of the base, the figure collapses. Well, this one is standing on his head. See, Lawrence has taken to doing a headstand at the end of each concert. Sheri took a great photo of this in Vegas and put it online with the caption “Cirque de Gowan”! and when I saw this toy, I looked at Ken and that’s what he said. At which point I collapsed in hysterical laughter. We’re going to paint a little towel under his head, and the phrase “Cirque de Gowan” on the side. I will show it to Lawrence, but he can’t have it. Mine!

He also got me Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things, which wasn’t even on my wish list yet! Ooh!

And we got new cameras! We were planning to anyway, and Xmas was a good excuse (plus it was a surprise for me to open). His camera was beat up from falling off the bike, and my camera (which we got because we were always fighting over who got to use the joint one, which then became his) was just too slow. Slow to take the picture, and really slow to “reboot” afterwards. These are little slim Casios, and they’re so fast! (Ken said he finally quit researching cameras, walked into a shop, and just told the saleswoman what features were important.) And he managed to get them in two different colors, so we won’t mix them up. Mine is a silver that shades towards lavender (how appropriate) and his shades more towards champagne. I played with mine in the airport a little—it can take black-and-white and sepia-toned pictures! Giggle madly.

Teresa gave me Moving Breath’s first CD, which was on my wish list because I pretty much wore out the cassette because I loved the album so much, and now we don’t have a cassette player. (Ken looked at the CD and said, “Right, that’s what you listened to when you got your tattoo.”) She also got me a book, and I’m blanking on what it’s called, but it looks very interesting.

Let’s see, I also got Ken another Neil Peart book (about riding his bicycle through Africa) and the newest Blackmore’s Night CD, The Village Lanterne.

I think we’ve started our descent, so I should wrap this up. Rainy and 36 degrees in Albany. I’ve got my fingers crossed for snow at the cabin… I hope you’re all have a lovely day. I don’t know when I’ll be able to post this; Ken and I will try to pop over to an Internet café in Lake Placid once or twice.

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Currently Reading: The Sacrifice: Book One of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lately Listened To: Christmas music! Whee!
Recently Watched: My Super Ex-Girlfriend