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wherein Liz does the Christmas thing
Dec. 28th, 2015 09:28 pmQuick life update!
Mom picked me up at 11am on Wednesday the 23rd, whereupon we drove down to NJ. Vicky arrived on the afternoon of the 24th. We had takeout Chinese for dinner, then went to the 9pm Christmas Eve service, where Mom and Dad ushered but Vicky and I were not dragooned into assisting them. Summit has an interim minister at the moment, so the service was a bit different from the past few years -- every minister brings their own touches, you know? This one brought a family story about a 'blue angel' that veered off on a tangent from the traditional 'yay Jesus is born' thing and placed its emphasis on the fact that every birth of every child is a thing to celebrate. Also the hymns had hardly any alterations, though Vicky and I noted one that puzzled us extremely, since it was NOT a change in the less-Jesus direction that UU word tweaks usually take.
(My religion, ladies and gentlebeings, where you always have to read the full text of the Christmas carols because the lyrics are different every year. *headdesk*)
We had pancakes for Christmas breakfast, opened gifts around 10am, and took a long walk through the Drew University forest in the afternoon. We ended up eating dinner around 4pm so as to take advantage of the ridiculous unseasonable warmth and grill the steak outdoors instead of on the stovetop. That night Susan came over to socialize for a bit, after which the two of us went to Mr. and Mrs. M's house to catch up and drop off cookie plates. Cat was, alas, not there; apparently she ended up having to work over the weekend and was therefore in Connecticut rather than NJ. (This is not a religious hardship for her, but is a bit annoying from a 'one chance a year to see old friends' perspective. *sigh*)
On Saturday Mom had acquired tickets to a performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor at the NJ Shakespeare Festival... oh wait, excuse me, the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey. (They changed their name over fifteen years ago and I still haven't convinced my brain to register the switch.) It was a fun show, though it sort of ran out of steam near the end -- for instance, the bit with the pretend-fairies needed to be a lot more kinetic to both 'realistically' induce fear in Falstaff and to keep up the momentum of the outright farce in earlier scenes.
And then I drove home on Sunday, since it was agreed that logistically it made more sense for me to just take a car and bring it back on Friday for the G. family New Year's Eve party (one round trip) than for someone else to drop me off and pick me up again (two round trips). And that was my holiday!
I hope you all had a lovely winter holiday of your choice as well. :D
Mom picked me up at 11am on Wednesday the 23rd, whereupon we drove down to NJ. Vicky arrived on the afternoon of the 24th. We had takeout Chinese for dinner, then went to the 9pm Christmas Eve service, where Mom and Dad ushered but Vicky and I were not dragooned into assisting them. Summit has an interim minister at the moment, so the service was a bit different from the past few years -- every minister brings their own touches, you know? This one brought a family story about a 'blue angel' that veered off on a tangent from the traditional 'yay Jesus is born' thing and placed its emphasis on the fact that every birth of every child is a thing to celebrate. Also the hymns had hardly any alterations, though Vicky and I noted one that puzzled us extremely, since it was NOT a change in the less-Jesus direction that UU word tweaks usually take.
(My religion, ladies and gentlebeings, where you always have to read the full text of the Christmas carols because the lyrics are different every year. *headdesk*)
We had pancakes for Christmas breakfast, opened gifts around 10am, and took a long walk through the Drew University forest in the afternoon. We ended up eating dinner around 4pm so as to take advantage of the ridiculous unseasonable warmth and grill the steak outdoors instead of on the stovetop. That night Susan came over to socialize for a bit, after which the two of us went to Mr. and Mrs. M's house to catch up and drop off cookie plates. Cat was, alas, not there; apparently she ended up having to work over the weekend and was therefore in Connecticut rather than NJ. (This is not a religious hardship for her, but is a bit annoying from a 'one chance a year to see old friends' perspective. *sigh*)
On Saturday Mom had acquired tickets to a performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor at the NJ Shakespeare Festival... oh wait, excuse me, the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey. (They changed their name over fifteen years ago and I still haven't convinced my brain to register the switch.) It was a fun show, though it sort of ran out of steam near the end -- for instance, the bit with the pretend-fairies needed to be a lot more kinetic to both 'realistically' induce fear in Falstaff and to keep up the momentum of the outright farce in earlier scenes.
And then I drove home on Sunday, since it was agreed that logistically it made more sense for me to just take a car and bring it back on Friday for the G. family New Year's Eve party (one round trip) than for someone else to drop me off and pick me up again (two round trips). And that was my holiday!
I hope you all had a lovely winter holiday of your choice as well. :D
