12:43 - 27.12.06
Catch Up
Merry Christmas everyone!
There must be a rule about not mixing Hallowe'en decorations with those for Christmas. It wasn't intentional. You see, the stencilled leaf bags I had used for Hallowe'en had frozen to the ground. I had tried several times to remove them, but they were stuck to the ground by a sheet of ice. In the meantime, I had tried several avenues to find a way to get a Christmas tree from the Christmas tree lot to my home to no avail. Even a Charlie Brown tree would have been ok, but even that seemed to be blocked. I finally managed to pry those stencilled bags intact from the ground Saturday morning. By Saturday afternoon number four son had found a Christmas tree lot that still offered trees. He and his buddy picked up one for him and one for me. I had been feeling quite depressed until then. Just the smell of real pine in my home raised my spirits to holiday level. I don't really care about gifts or other trimmings, but that tree is the essence of Christmas to me.
I went off shopping Saturday morning. I was planning to give my guys cash - young adults are always in need of that - and I had the things I needed for the gift exchange at my Dad's home. What I wanted was some specialized baking/cooking supplies and some little gifts so each of my grandchildren and my sons and their spouses would receive a "stocking" from me. I think it's important that each person have something physical to open Christmas Day, just so that they feel included and acknowledged regardless of their financial status. I had planned to make three dishes for the afternoon get together at my Dad's home, but I like the ingredients to be fresh. Met one of the women I had volunteered with on the way there and made arrangements to meet for walks/exercise in the next couple of weeks when we are both off work. I found some great bargains at one of the local stores for the stocking stuffers then headed over to the grocery store.
I started to reach for a coffee cup at the dispenser in-store when one of the store managers rushed up. He grabbed a cup from in front of me and started the machine up for his brew. I was a bit startled, but guessed that he had been asked to find out what was in the giant bag I had stuffed into the children's seat in my shopping cart. Fair question, but why not just ask outright to check the contents. I wouldn't have been offended. I just explained what I had purchased at the store next to theirs. Not having a vehicle means I have to carry my purchases from store to store, you see. Once he was comfortable with my answer, he became very chatty about his stressed out customers - it was apparent he was stressed too. He left with his coffee when it was done and another woman came up and tried to start her purchase before I had time to get mine. She drew back when she realized that there were several options to choose from - wanting to know what tasted good and what the prices were. I explained what I knew, as I fought to get the machine to accept the change I was carrying. It kept spitting one or two of the coins back into the return slot for some reason. After a few tries I suggested that maybe the machine was mad at me and let the other lady get her order. She had no trouble with the machine. She watched as I tried - successfully - after her and I noted that she must be lucky for me. She laughed and went on her way. I finished up my purchases and headed back home.
I was starting to feel rather sick toward the end of the shopping in the grocery store. By the time I arrived home it felt as though my middle back had frozen up with something like an arthritis and my internal workings were churning apace as well. Symptoms listed in our newspaper as being signs of the norovirus. Bleagh. Great timing eh? I started sorting and putting away the groceries and the Christmas presents, thinking it might go away if I ignored it. All the gifts were on my bed for future sorting into recipient piles you see. When I finally finished up with getting all the perishables safely stored I went back to the bedroom. One of the cats had found the package of five fabric mice I had bought for their treat. Mr Mel had pushed it on to the floor and three of those little darlings were in the process of trying to get those toys out of the package - all arrayed in a circle around the packet taking turns trying to rip open the plastic. They had managed to pull one of the fake mice partly out through a gap in the top of it. They took off when they realized I was in the room except for Mr Boots. He batted that packet under the bed and tried to continue the opening ceremony from there. Just like having a bunch of two year old boys in the house again, it is. Number four son arrived at about that time so I hid said mice and went to visit with him and his buddy for a bit. Hugs all around and they went on with their day. I was starting to feel even worse by then so I crawled into bed thinking I would have time to work on the sorting later. As it turned out just getting out of bed to answer nature's call was almost too much, so I opted to sleep through the night.
Woke up Sunday feeling a bit better. My oldest son and his family were due for Christmas Eve dinner and present opening, so I figured if I just kept a steady pace I would be able to deal with all the planned tasks from the day before as well as the day's chores. I had found a really good yoga tape in my travels the day before, so before I did my last bit of shopping at the closest store to my home I walked in the opposite direction to the home of the one friend who needs to start the practice as therapy after her illness last year. Popped it in her mailbox then headed back toward the store. At that point my body was letting me know that the flu I thought I had beaten was just waiting for me to get fatigued enough to reinstate itself. By the time I walked into the store I felt those pains in my back again, so I slowed down and took a very slow trip through each aisle. That turned out to be a great strategy. You see there were several little things I had wanted for specific people that I hadn't been able to find anywhere. As I trundled up and down each of the aisles in the shop I found each of the things I wanted tucked away in some very strange places. If I had hurried through that shopping I would never had seen them. The store in question is one where I collect loyalty points. Being that I don't have full time work at this point, I decided to use those points instead of paying cash. Turned out nearly $200 in purchases cost me $30 cash after trading in all those points. Bonus indeed.
Walked in my door feeling very fatigued and sore, but very pleased with myself too. I was tellling myself that as long as I took it slow and easy while preparing for the evening meal, I would manage ok. Then my youngest informed me that he and his oldest brother had decided that the evening celebration would be moved up in time. In fact I would now have less than two hours to do what required a minimum of five hours of steady non-stop work to accomplish. I admit I had a bit of a meltdown at that point. You see I had asked my youngest to do certain tasks for me so I could concentrate on the dinner and cleaning. The main dishes were already cooking, but all the side dishes had to be prepared, for example. He hadn't even started on the work I needed him to do, some of which had to be done before I could get the chores I had done. Then he told me that he was leaving shortly to attend his Dad's family gathering and wouldn't likely have time to do a lot of what I needed done. Uh huh. My son realized I was really stressed by his changes to my schedule and decided maybe he could find the time to help out. Both my oldest and youngest are Sagittarians you see. They are great with the big overall picture but somedays they can't organize themselves out of a paperbag. Their concepts of time on task to complete even one operation is no better than fuzzy at best. My oldest has had a decade in the workforce to bring home to him that planning and organization do count, so there is hope yet for my youngest. As it turned out, my youngest confessed that he had changed all the plans to accommodate his Dad's schedule and that my oldest had just agreed to try and revamp his schedule to fit in. I pointed out that since my role was rather central to how things unfolded over the next couple of days, that it would be advisable in future to let me in on such drastic changes. My youngest called my oldest son back and changed the schedule back to what had originally agreed upon to my great relief - and my oldest sons's as well. I don't mind being flexible - the only way one can be with six young sons to contend with - but there are limits to my ability to pull off a major event with less than half the time planned alloted. Whew. As it turned out my son's family was late, because they couldn't get through to the taxi dispatch. I called for them and had a cab there within minutes. Apparently my youngest's regular use of said service has put us on the preferred customer list.
The evening was very pleasant. After eating dinner, my oldest grandson and granddaughter opened and played with their gifts while they watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. They weren't feeling very well nor was my son. Turned out my son had been fighting that same norovirus for over a week and the little ones had caught it at school. My son seemed content to just relax and enjoy watching his children play while chatting with me. They left at 11 pm. My youngest walked in the door about an hour later with an armful of gifts he had received from his Dad's family. We both were really tired and crawled into bed planning to be up early Christmas morning to get the next layer of tasks done. Normally I would have worked through the night as in most other years. Wrapping gifts for six children usually took me to four or five am Christmas morning, since they couldn't be wrapped earlier without being easily discovered. This year that flu virus was threatening to take over the body again if I didn't get some sleep first.
Sleeping was a good choice as I felt much better when I woke around 8 in the am on Christmas morning. Started cooking for the afternoon get together at my Dad's home. The way I see it is if I am going to bring homemade food to a gathering it needs to be as fresh as possible. I had cooked the sweet potatoes the night before so they were nicely cooled when I started working with them first. I had found the recipe I wanted in one of my on-line e-zines - thanks Lizzy. I have all sorts of cookbooks, but I needed a recipe that could be adapted for the diabetics in the family. The ezine recipe met all my criteria, but allowed me enough wiggle room for creative licence with it. Fruit and honey were substituted for sugar, with spices filling in the taste gap. Next up was a teriyaki noodle and vegetable stir fry. Finally finished up the blueberry cheesecake with about an hour to dress and fill up those gift bags for everyone. I was just spooning the fresh blueberries on to that cake when number four son and his family arrived in their chariot to take us to the party. With a baby seat, various dishes and a raft of gifts it was hard to fit all the adults in the vehicle, each with their own seatbelt, but we finally managed.
The family gathering was a lot of fun and all my grandbabies had a wonderful time being the center of attention. My sibs and I had gone in together to buy their gifts and it was obvious that my sister who had done the shopping had had a lot of fun picking out the presents. The adult gift exchange - the Ukrainian Christmas game - was punctuated with a lot of laughter and jokes. There was one person who wasn't behaving very graciously, but everyone else just ignored her barbed remarks or turned them into the butt of a joke when it was appropriate. I didn't get enough of the time I wanted to visit with all my sibs, but I did try. My brother - the technology whiz - was very stressed with work issues - the type I've been dealing with for a decade in the downtown culture. I don't think he realized how profound an impact that has both on productivity and on morale when all one does is spend time watching one's back and documenting everything for one's own protection. Both he and my number two son have noted that their industries seem to be becoming infected throughout with this type of corporate management. Both also noted that the European countries are doing much better with respect to their bottom lines, while treating their employees as partners instead of wage slaves. Don't know where the maliciousness and destructive culture of employee abuse has come from, but as the saying goes - "Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first make crazy". I think making the north american corporate "leaders" crazy has been accomplished. Too bad so many other people will suffer when their house of cards collapses. By five pm everyone was saying their goodbyes and heading off to other family gatherings or to home. My one sister and her hubby appeared to be waiting to talk with my Dad after the rest of us left, but I don't know if they managed it. As we were leaving my Dad's neighbour called to me from her home, to hold the door open for her as she hurried over with an armload of packages for my Dad. She had left each of us siblings a pot full of miniature roses, so I had the opportunity to thank her before heading off home. Arrived home to find several of the fabric mice shredded all over the living room. My youngest said he was feeling sorry for leaving the cats on their own so had rolled said mice in a layer of catnip. Uh huh. By the time we walked back in our door that flu had taken over again. Since then I've been sleeping dear diary. And that's my story now.
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