home again, home again...
Dec. 29th, 2003 06:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingChristmas was good. We managed the drive out to Iowa in about 21 hours -- despite me coming down with a cold halfway through -- and the drive back in only 20. (The time difference was caused by the lack of a giant rainstorm and a stop for a sit-down breakfast at McDonald's.)
The whole Culmer family was there, even my cousin Michael who usually spends the holidays with his biological father. (He brought anime CDs. We had fun.) We did the big dinner thing, the present thing, and the annoying photo session thing. Chief change: this year, instead of going around in a circle and each person opening one present at a time, we just sorted them all out to the relevant people and opened them all at once. Much faster, and it avoids those embarrassing moments when some people run out of gifts sooner than others.
Am currently up at this ungodly hour to feed the dog, since my parents were at church tonight. The church is hosting some local homeless people as part of an interfaith coalition that runs a helping hand program year-round. We always take the weeks over Christmas and New Year's. This used to be because our church essentially packed up for the summer and nobody was around -- we took the holidays to make up for finking out on our summer turn -- but now it's just a tradition. Anyhow, my parents won't be back for a while and the dog must be fed. *sigh* And Vicky's off in Connecticut for who knows how long, so I'm stuck taking care of everything for a while.
Later today Mom and I are going to strip the wallpaper from the stairwell. We've lived in this house sixteen and a half years and hated the wallpaper the whole time... now we're finally getting rid of it! It's the ugliest wallpaper I've ever seen, with the possible exception of the wallpaper in our back bathroom. The previous owners of the house had no taste. They also let the bushes grow halfway into the street, and allowed their cat to use the sunroom as a giant litterbox. We had to keep the door closed for two years after we moved in. Crazy people, they were.
The whole Culmer family was there, even my cousin Michael who usually spends the holidays with his biological father. (He brought anime CDs. We had fun.) We did the big dinner thing, the present thing, and the annoying photo session thing. Chief change: this year, instead of going around in a circle and each person opening one present at a time, we just sorted them all out to the relevant people and opened them all at once. Much faster, and it avoids those embarrassing moments when some people run out of gifts sooner than others.
Am currently up at this ungodly hour to feed the dog, since my parents were at church tonight. The church is hosting some local homeless people as part of an interfaith coalition that runs a helping hand program year-round. We always take the weeks over Christmas and New Year's. This used to be because our church essentially packed up for the summer and nobody was around -- we took the holidays to make up for finking out on our summer turn -- but now it's just a tradition. Anyhow, my parents won't be back for a while and the dog must be fed. *sigh* And Vicky's off in Connecticut for who knows how long, so I'm stuck taking care of everything for a while.
Later today Mom and I are going to strip the wallpaper from the stairwell. We've lived in this house sixteen and a half years and hated the wallpaper the whole time... now we're finally getting rid of it! It's the ugliest wallpaper I've ever seen, with the possible exception of the wallpaper in our back bathroom. The previous owners of the house had no taste. They also let the bushes grow halfway into the street, and allowed their cat to use the sunroom as a giant litterbox. We had to keep the door closed for two years after we moved in. Crazy people, they were.
