Unboxed

Is everyone having a good Boxing Day?

We’ve spent it being highly productive. We’ve scrubbed the kitchen (we had an ant invasion recently and most of our food and dishes have been on the dining room table…), done several loads of laundry, tidied up. Ken hung our new tapestry and fixed a gate latch. I worked out with my trainer. An out-of-state friend will be staying the night, and we’re going out to dinner with Morgana and Brian and Brian’s parents.

Our Christmas Eve was a quiet one, wrapping presents for others and opening our presents (since we spend Christmas Day on the road visiting various family) and soaking in the hot tub. Before all that, though, we went for a wander through the famed lights of the Historic District with Morgana and Brian and Brian’s sister Jeanne. Morgana suggested we carol, and whipped out song books, and we were very well received. People took pictures of us (why? we weren’t dressed up.) and gave us candy canes and applauded madly. Christmas cheer abounded.

Christmas Day was long! We got up early and scooted down to Santa Ana to have brunch and present-opening with Ken’s brother and sister-in-law and mom and the sister-in-law’s parents and brothers, and, of course Ken’s three nephews. I had three Bloody Marys and put together an elaborate Spongebob Squarepants Lego set for the kids. The thing had about a million little parts, too. I so rock.

Then we headed homewards because Ken’s dad’s wife’s son and his wife (ya’ll following that?) live in Moorpark. We had dinner there, exchanged more presents, and I drank a lot of water. :-) Oh, on the way there, Ken drove so I could call my parents and my sisters.

After that we came home, collapsed in the hot tub, and crashed early…

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It was a musical sort of holiday this year. Ken gave me Annie Lennox’s Bare and the first Garbage CD, and my sister gave me The Essential Simon & Garfunkel and Ken the latest Queensrÿche, Take Cover (a covers album, including their versions of a song from Jesus Christ Superstar and a classical Italian piece. Awesome!). (Unfortunately, I’d also bought the latter for Ken, because my sister hadn’t reserved it on his wish list, so I didn’t know it was coming.) My other present for Ken—a book on the Italian Renaissance that he saw at Great Western War—takes 4 weeks to deliver, and his other present is still in progress. I felt kinda lame….

My parents gave me a pair of cat earrings and for both of us, our annual ornament (a butterfly this year) and three little houses from a series. We have some David Winter ones, but I think these are another series. One’s a log cabin, which made me a bit homesick, and the other are English cottages. We definitely need to build a shelf for this collection, as they’re taking over the mantle…

Ken’s mom gave us a shower head filter (Oxnard’s water is crappy and probably why my hair always feels so dry) and gave me an herb kit (one of those fabulous pots with all the openings on the sides for the herbs to grow out of). Ken’s brother and sister-and-law gave us tea, cookies, and Various Things That Smell Good. Ken’s dad and wife gave us both slippers (although they have to exchange mine because they mis-guessed the size of my big ol’ feet) and a calendar for Ken.

Christine and I gave each other the same present (see below)! I howled when I opened mine! My trainer gave me some face cream and massage oil (I didn’t expect a present from her—how sweet!). As previously mentioned, Teresa adopted a tiger in my name and Ken’s mom got us a subscription to Vegetarian Times. Hm. I hope I’m not forgetting anything!

We gave Ken’s brother et al a machine that makes slushies and snow cones as well as frozen margaritas and whatnot—fun for the whole family! We gave Ken’s mom a variety of little gifties, including a Frank Lloyd Wright bookmark and a little gift book on quilts. We’re giving his dad a digital picture frame (the one we bought kinda sucks, so we’re returning it and getting another one). I got many of my writerly friends the Writing Muse Fairy. We’ll take my parents out to dinner when we visit in the spring.

What did you all give and get?

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Currently Reading: Season of the Witch, Natasha Mostert
Lately Listened To: Garbage, Queensrÿche
Recently Watched: Hex, various home and garden shows