The Visible Woman...December 25, 2003

It's sad when your reaction to Christmas is to be glad it's over for another year.

The day begins differently, of course. FFP is not in his usual hurry to get up and we can't go to the club because it is closed today. So I do the rare thing and get up and shower right away. It's quiet outside on a Thursday. It's certain no workmen will show up.

Now I just want to get through it. Have stores open up again, have people get over mobbing them to return things and get back to work. Then I can shop if I want to in peace.

I just want to get through having a meal at my in-laws, warming everything in the oven (no microwave there alas), listening to their tales, eating too much.

It goes OK, I guess. Everyone seems OK with their gifts. We don't really give each other that much. FFP's parents give us each $50 and give us some tapes that his dad has listened to and some books they got secondhand somewhere. Which is all cool.

We do get everything heated, more or less. The rolls don't finish until we are having seconds. After everything is washed up and put away we all go to our house. We sit around and read and watch Pleasantville and it's the first time I've watched that movie all the way through. FFP's dad falls asleep when it's raining and wakes up and wants to know if it stopped raining. My dad decides to leave around 3:30 to go home and take a nap. FFP's parents won't stay for leftovers (which we have brought over from their house) and want to go home.

So we watch TV and read and it doesn't really seem like Christmas. But it's over. And that feels like a relief. What was the fuss about?

	honestly it's good to have it over It's sad when your reaction to Christmas is to be glad it's over for another year. The day begins differently, of course. FFP is not in his usual hurry to get up and we can't go to the club because it is closed today. So I do the rare thing and get up and shower right away. It's quiet outside on a Thursday. It's certain no workmen will show up. Now I just want to get through it. Have stores open up again, have people get over mobbing them to return things and get back to work. Then I can shop if I want to in peace. I just want to get through having a meal at my in-laws, warming everything in the oven (no microwave there alas), listening to their tales, eating too much. It goes OK, I guess. Everyone seems OK with their gifts. We don't really give each other that much. FFP's parents give us each $50 and give us some tapes that his dad has listened to and some books they got secondhand somewhere. Which is all cool. We do get everything heated, more or less. The rolls don't finish until we are having seconds. After everything is washed up and put away we all go to our house. We sit around and read and watch Pleasantville and it's the first time I've watched that movie all the way through. FFP's dad falls asleep when it's raining and wakes up and wants to know if it stopped raining. My dad decides to leave around 3:30 to go home and take a nap. FFP's parents won't stay for leftovers (which we have brought over from their house) and want to go home. So we watch TV and read and it doesn't really seem like Christmas. But it's over. And that feels like a relief. What was the fuss about?
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JUST TYPING Just another day. Sun comes up. Birds sing. You eat. Watch TV.
		Food Diary. *breakfast* nothing *lunch* smoked turkey, dressing, gravy, a roll, spinach casserole, potatoes, cranberry sauce, ambrosia and waldorf salad 1/3 bottle Shiraz *snacks* a Manhattan four pieces of fruit pectin candy *dinner* turkey, spinach casserole some turkey and goat cheese nachos and a Shiner Bock Today I - ate way too much...again.
		Time flies.... We don't get up until after eight. I'm clean and dressed and wandering about at 9:30, knowing my dad will be there soon because I told him 10:30. Sure enough. He brings me goodies that other people have given him. Which, of course, we don't need since we have plenty such of our own. Whatever. Soon it's time to get ready to go to my in-laws. Load up the presents, the spinach casserole, the turkey, the potatoes. We are over there until after 1PM. All the parents have bailed by six. And we waste the evening with reading and TV and eats and drinks.

		Reading. Pending: Dawn of D-Day: There Men Were There 6 June 1944 by David Howarth; Michelin Green Guide to Washington, D.C.; Actually read old newspapers and today's, too and started one of those 'best of' books...essays...that I got for Christmas.
		nada
		Exercise nothing
	. .	My mood is a little anti-Christmas but physically I feel good until I eat too much.
	It's a Tangled Web we weave...these days of our lives.	One year ago "It feels good to have this freedom. Maybe I'll get started on some of the major and minor projects on my 'to do' list. Just maybe." Two years ago "FFP gives me a stack of books that he 'selected' from our own library. I wouldn't have sworn we owned any of them and might have been tempted at the bookstore."