Even More Merry!

I just up and took Monday off! I had plenty of PTO days left, and Shan was suprirsed I was planning to be here Monday the 23rd, and she said, as she handed me a Peppermint Mocha she bought for me, "it isn't too late to request it..." So I did! And she approved. Yay! (Isn't she the best boss? I am very lucky.)

Now I get a whole week for Christmas and today is IT, and the last half of today I'm going to work from home anyway, because Alex, my dear 15yo Alex who spends so many of his half-days and days off at our house, without transportation or anyplace to go, just him and the cats.... was invited to "hang out with" 3 boys from his Spanish 2 class. The kid never asks for anything, and so even though we don't know the other kids, we are trusting him and trusting that their parents will be home (fingers crossed) and shifting our plans so he can go socialize for a while. (I'll stay home with Kate instead of him staying with her, as was planned.)

All this to say, I'm so happy we've finally made it to the end of this week. NOTHING is going on at my office anyway, or inside my laptop. No emails. Our German headquarters is already closed for the next 2 weeks, and our sales force, whom I support, has checked out. (I mean, Salespeople, they're on their own schedules all year round, right?)

Next Monday, Kate has scheduled a little lunch-date with her current group of girl friends, and I also have a lunch-date scheduled with my girl friend, and so it's starting to feel pretty festive slash laid-back around here.

We successfully prepared and ate our 2 meals from Hello, Fresh. The Bulgogi Pork with jasmine rice and roasted carrots was DELICIOUS. The Pineapple Chicken Quesadillas were, too, but less impressive since we eat quesadillas and pico often enough. But there's something I can't put my finger on about the HF meals... something about how "fussy" they seem to prepare. Maybe it's all the garnishing? (White sesame seeds AND lime zest AND finely chopped green onion? I would never do all that for my own recpies, although I guess the plates looked nice...) Or is it the packaging? When I cook with regular grocery-store bottles and boxes, things get put away back into the pantry -- but with HF, every time you use an ingredient, you have to throw something away. OR in my case, set it aside to be rinsed/recycled later, making the countertops seem messy and the whole affair unfinished... maybe it's that. I can't decide. Maybe I just felt rushed because they were planned for school nights. I liked the meals, though, and it's a good way to get out of a meal-making rut. I have skipped the next couple of weeks, but will plan to order at least one more time after the holidays. It is a pretty good deal, cost-wise. Thanks, Suz!! Anyone want a free box? I have invites.

I messed up a pot of ham and white beans the other night. HOW in the world I messed them up, I have no idea. I forgot to soak them overnight, but I know a trick for that: bring them to a boil, cover and let sit for an hour. Presto! Mom has done that for years. I've done it before. So that's what I did, then put them in the crockpot for 6.5 hours on low, as my recipe suggested. But they came out HARD! Not at all soft, even though ONE thing I messed up was I think I doubled the amount of water. Still, it doesn't seem like that would make a difference. Seems like it would even help! But no, the entire pot had to be thrown out, after we'd tasted and tried to eat them. At least beans are cheap. I bought them at Target, maybe they were defective? Who knows. Alex has been teasing me about "not even being able to cook BEANS." As if HE knows how. ;)

The Sped-Up Advent and Slowed-Down Christmas of 2019

Hasn't the month of December been a blur? With Thanksgiving so late it has felt like we arrived abruptly AT Christmas, and even though it's still 7 days away, time has already run out in my mind.

Our shopping is mostly done, thank baby Jesus, but very little of the wrapping. No Christmas cards have been addressed or sent. Nor have I attempted any meal-planning for the days of Christmas itself, because for the very first time, we have ZERO obligations and no family coming to visit. It's just US FOUR. I'm happy about that. I know I will probably feel a little bereft on Christmas Day, when Mom and Dad are alone in their house and we're in ours, 6 hours away, and Shawn's mom, too, by herself. But on the other hand, I have this cozy, slowed-down picture in my head of just a relaxing day, our little foursome and our kitties. I want to do my usual Christmas crepes for breakfast, and then I suppose we'll think of something a little more special than a weekday dinner, for afternoon Christmas dinner... but I also hope there's time for reading, movies, naps, games, hot chocolate, and maybe even PJs all day.

I DO NOT HAVE TO SING at any Mass this year! That's a first. Or, a first in a loooooooong time. It's my very best gift to myself, I'm so happy about it. Of course, it means we'll have to really work to get ourselves to a Mass at all... the 7:30 am is probably the wisest choice as far as crowds are concerned, but I can guarantee my crew won't want to do that. So 6:00 pm Christmas Eve is more likely. (Less wise.) Doesn't matter, I don't have to be there from 10 pm until 1 am and that is an amazing freedom.

Kate told me tearfully a couple of weeks ago that she knows, about Santa and the Elf and all. :( It was hard for her to admit. She was wandering around the house kind-of unable to sit still, looking at the Elf on the Shelf and acting like she wanted to say something, but not saying anything, while I was writing a grocery list. Finally, I asked her, "Kate, you seem like you have something on your mind, what is it?" And she said down next to me at the kitchen table, and said, "I don't want to say because I don't want to be sad..." and then I could guess what was coming. "I know," she said. I tried to comfort her and say that we'll still DO all the things -- I did get the feeling she was worried we'd say, "Oh welp, that's the end of that! Thank goodness, the jig is up!" -- and told her the "magic" of Christmas is that you're infinitely loved, and that families give gifts to each other to show that love and and and... and I think she understood, but still. big breath. It was a moment. The real end of an era. (I think she had her suspicions last year, truly, but wasn't ready to admit it.) And it's time, I mean, she's nearly 12.

Somehow, it wasn't enough to quell our parental desire to make Christmas special and... bigger than it needs to be. I mean, it isn't going to be "BIG" by some people's standards, but we still had to list out and chart all the gifts to make sure both kids' piles will be "even," and honestly I'd really like to be one of those families that does "Something you Want, Something you Need, Something to Wear, Something to Read," and that's it. Cut down on the consumerism of it all. Not quite there yet, but maybe one day. Jill's new family is apparently better at that; maybe they'll be a good influence.

We get our first Hello, Fresh box today! I'm excited! Tonight's dinner will be Pineapple Grilled Chicken quesadillas, and tomorrow's is Pork Tenderloin Bulgogi. Yay for trying new things! Thanks to Suzanne for the referral!

I have to work the rest of this week and Monday the 23rd, but it's already winding down significantly. I suspect I'll be doing some desk cleaning in the next few days, and not a lot of work-work. I'll take it! Merry Christmas!

Things I Don't Want to Forget, Fall 2019

• At one of the last marching rehearsals of the season, before Grand Nats, when it was inexplicably something like 36 degrees out and a night practice, Alex noticed his freshman clarinet buddy, Cooper, was wearing shorts, shivering with blue lips. Alex had prepared, thankfully (and somewhat surprisingly), by wearing two pairs of pants, one fleecy sweatpant and a lighter athletic pant underneath that. He gave Cooper the sweatpants. No fuss, just took them off and handed them over. No one noticed this, as far as we know, but Shawn happened to be watching practice that night and caught it. Our hearts grew three sizes.
• When I was sick over Thanksgiving (so sick! headache and cold for about 4 days straight, and I was stuffy enough that I couldn't taste any of the food I was making), my family was so kind to me. On Wednesday they let me nap for about 2 hours in the afternoon, and no one complained that we made it a pretty low-key Thanksgiving Day. They helped me cook. They probably did the hard parts for me. I took breaks. We used our regular, dishwasher-safe dishes, not the bone china I like to use on holidays - I just couldn't. I didn't even make any dessert until the afternoon of Thursday, which is when I finally started to improve, and even then only 1 dessert when I had been planning 3. I made the other one, the pumpkin bars, probably 2 days later. It was nice to be allowed to kind-of phone it in. Family is the best.
• Last week, high schoolers received their spring class schedules. Alex was called to the Guidance office to discuss the fact that they had moved him into 2nd period Band, which is the most advanced "Wind Ensemble" class. (He's been in the intermediate-level this semester, having moved up after his freshman year.) He went to the directors to check this. "Hey," he said, "I just want to make sure that this isn't a scheduling error." (Surely you don't move up after one semester, as a sophomore, into the highest level, right?) The head director responded, "Nope, that's not an error. Congratulations," in his very understated way. Heart bursting with pride (again)!
• My Kate has such a generous heart. While it sometimes drives me crazy, because she has all these "ideas" -- we joke that our most feared words from her are, "Mommy, I have an idea..." -- requiring us to go to Michaels to shop every weekend, mostly with my money instead of her allowance, it is so sweet, really. For her 4 best friends, she's decorated Mason jars with color-coordinated candies (Lindt chocolates), PuraVida bracelets, and lip balms, nestled into tissue paper or shredded paper/filler. And, not wanting to leave anyone out, she told me last night she'd also like to bake some cookies for 2 other friends, and put them in clear cellophane bags with pretty ribbon. Makes me happy to see her happy. 
• She also told me again recently, and I don't want to forget, that she desperately wants to be an interior designer someday. Have I mentioned this before? I think it would be perfect for her: spending someone else's money to do creative things. (And eventually, being her own boss.) It fits every aspect of her little (big) personality so well.