LISTS

Movies We Have Seen in the Last Week

-Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
-The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
-Saving Mr. Banks
-The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Drinks Rachael Had on Her 21st Birthday 

-Sour Watermelon Margarita
-White Chocolate Martini
-2 Bloody Marys
-B52 Shot (Kahlua, Grand Marnier, Bailey's)

Events Happening Between December 20 and January 3

-Sam's Graduation
-Grandpa Bill's Birthday
-Rachael's Birthday
-Christmas Eve Party
-Christmas
-New Year's Eve
-Grandma Joyce's Birthday

SATURDAY NIGHT

The snow comes quickly. It is sudden and cold, a shock to take the trash out at 10:00 tonight, when coming home from the movies at 7:30 was just cool and night-cloudy. The inch or two of powder covering the sidewalk and garden shines indigo in the glow from the roof lights. The neighbors' houses across the street are still festive with hundreds of lights - Ken and Amy's a multicolored circus, Brian's all red and white with candy canes. Rachael leaves at 11:50 with Dan, chauffeured by Sam to Bar Louie's for her first thrill of legal cocktails. An anonymous quote from Rachael's birthday card: May the light always find you on a dreary day, When you need to be home, may you find your way... May you always have courage to take a chance, And may you never find frogs in your underpants.

NEW PHONE

Rachael got a new phone today - a Samsung Galaxy S4 like mine.She teaches me to do the audio-text feature. We try to get the phone to recognize "Text Rachael". Me: "Text Rachael" Phone: Rachel is not in your contacts. Who would you like to send a message to? Me: "Ray-chell" Phone: Raychelle is not in your contacts. Who would you like to send a message to? Me: (from hereon, substitute requests for various permutations of Rachael) Phone: Rach JL? Me: ... Phone: Watch Al? Watch is not in your contacts... Me: ... Phone: Ray j you? Me: ... Phone: read she'll? watch a deal? Deal is not in your contacts... rich? rock jl? jail? rough chello? Rough is not in your contacts... rotch jl? rock chat l? Me: "Text Rachael Holloway" Phone: Bill Holloway or Tricia Holloway? Finally, I admit defeat and change my contact to read "Rach". I say "Text Rach". It works twice. Then it says "You have two new messages from Ratch". Various texts of conversations plus intentional texts to Rachael thereafter read: -Text Reach -Say what I'm pretty -Text rash text Rachel much wood -Rash is not in your address book -Text ranch produce livelinks the van because of angel ------------------------- (Overheard snippet of conversation from the kitchen: Abby - "You have crabs?", Sam - "Just a few.")

CHRISTMAS RECOVERY

Bit by bit we emerge from the maelstrom that was Christmas. Abby and I sit in the dark office, watching our fifth or sixth episode of The 4400. I am almost done with my 1 1/2'X 5' lifeline artwork, made with strips of college posters. Daddy is upstairs sleeping on my gift to him, a heated mattress pad which is pretty exciting in this cold. We just finished a crazy Sorry game - I won by a hair, then Dad, then Sam, with Abby a grouchy last (she got sent home a lot). Rachael is upstairs monitoring two cats who just discovered the extended paper-bag game. Everyone has been exhausted all day, worn out from the frenzy of socializing, extra-heavy meals, cocktails and too much activity in too little time. Another late night (how did it get to be almost 12:00 again??).

SUGAR BLIZZARD

        Everything brought into this house has fallen into the categories of Unhealthy and Addictive. Stress calls out for butter, sugar and salt it seems, the thrill of instant gratification. 

In particular some dense, surprisingly salty brownies, from a gold tin labelled the Christie Brownie, are proving to be my kryptonite.    From out of nowhere, seemingly instantaneously, we have variations of every bad-for-you Christmas temptation you could summon up. Amy's pizzelle cookies, crisp and flavored lightly with anise. Homemade chocolate-chip cookies, somehow arriving from Kentucky (which I feel were passed on by people more concerned with their own waistlines than ours). Pink and white condensed milk fudge, irresistible to  Hawaiian sensibilities.                  

TWO DAYS AWAY

My single moment of silence, a solitary calm that has been missing all day. 10:54 p.m. and the cats have just discovered that the Christmas tree in the office is literally covered in cat toys. They also know instinctively that I am slow to get up from behind the desk to chase them with the water bottle - although we all seem to enjoy the game.

Sam sleeps on the couch in the living room - heater on high, fuzzy blanket pulled close. Rachael has retired early as usual, Abby is reading maybe in her room, Daddy is exhausted and in bed. The dogs sleep, the birds sleep, the cats chase up and down the stairs. The clock ticks. My unfinished montage of college posters sits, glue drying, beside me. If I can fix all the turned up edges and tears and glue bumps, it will be a cool timeline of multi-textured strips. One hundred lines long to symbolize a person's life. Visual inspiration for the LHS Post-Grad room. A constantly nagging nightmare in my life of bad timing and procrastination. Why would I start a complicated art project at the busiest time of the year?

A crash of branches, a tinkling of ornaments. Cats race, water flies - four quick chases, all in the span of a minute. I've gotten up four times, my motivation for tree-rescue is flagging.

11:11 - Grandma Pat time. A nudge from her, I'm sure she would enjoy the cat circus going on now.

Tomorrow will be a hang on and ride the waves type of day. Washing machine peed all over the laundry room floor this afternoon, surely some repairman will have two hours for us tomorrow, (undoubtedly at some inconvenient time). Not one present is wrapped, not one cookie baked, not one party food planned. Christmas never varies, the circumstances always mutate

so every spare moment is full to bursting.

CHRISTMAS PREP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5v07eIFfNY
Song of the day: Little Drummer Boy (Play as you read)

Twelve degrees outside, but exhilaratingly warm compared to our eleven straight days of single-digit weather. Too cold to go into the garage for a box of kleenex, or get the mail, or run to the store. Everyone in a giddy mood now - saw three high school boys in shorts on my Abby-and-Alex drop-off this morning (we did agree that you wouldn't catch girls in shorts because "It's dumb"). The sun electrifies the snow, making it blindingly bright. It is still cold enough to make that screechy crunch noise that Rachael hates but I like, when you walk across the snow.

Chester snores on the couch (why can't an 80# dog with stiff joints stay on the floor?) and Otis is at my feet. It has been a boring week and a half for them, no walks and everyone too cold to throw the ball. The undecorated Christmas tree fills the dining room with Noble fir aroma, the wonderful buttermint candle fills the kitchen air.  

I can think of 15 things I should be doing:  ordering leis, decorating the house, throwing the ball for poor antsy Otis, sorting out my winter clothes, talking to Sunrise about Grandpa's charges, buying strawberry Ensure for him (ugh!), making minestrone soup (yum!), cleaning out my emails, cleaning out the freezer, on and on. And here I am blogging and listening to Steve Martin videos. I am paralyzed by too much to do! And no, I can't even do just one small thing, don't even trot that one out.                                             

The Canada geese arrived about a week ago. Suddenly they are everywhere, their cries fill the air at sunset - rush hour on the highway is also rush hour in the sky.

THANKSGIVING MENU 2013

Giant Butterball turkey fresh from Costco (waited too long to get frozen)

Garlic mashed potatoes (used huge $7 bag of peeled garlic from Costco, such a deal!) - had tons because Sam refused to stop peeling potatoes

Garlic brussel sprouts from Aunt Susan, who only brought about 13 because she thought they would be unpopular - were a surprise hit

Brown sugar carrots (great) and coleslaw (too much mayo but keep that quiet), also from Susan

Pomegranate seed and apple-mandarin compote - Abby

Cranberry relish and green bean casserole - Rachael

Dinner rolls (great the next day too) made by Sam the night before

Stuffing - from Daddy, half-again too much because no one ever finishes stuffing

Lemon mixed-berry cheesecake - from me, made the night before, I am always happy to be done cooking and on the sous-chef and cleaning crew

GOOD GOD IT'S DECEMBER ALREADY

The house is eerily at a dead calm, we are trapped in the twilight zone doldrums.  Even the two parakeets, left behind in a frenzied bid to lower the stress of December deadlines and duties, are absolutely silent. The butter mint candle, bought at the "Today Only!" Bath and Bodyworks sale on Friday, fills the house with the amazingly accurate smell of my favorite candy. Three wicks though, it'll be gone in a week.

Sam left in a cheerful storm of last minute store quests (lights for the stair rails again, surprise huge plastic bowls of cinnamon pine cones). I envision him at the library -or maybe Starbucks?- drinking green tea and wrapped in headphones, deep in microeconomics.

Rachael is with Zia-the-plant-excavator in Boulder, prepping for the new round of dance/French/nanny challenges mounting on her doorstep. The Christmas decorations remain boxed on the kitchen floor. Nutcracker-music-red-wine-and-decorating plans fell by the wayside this week.

Daddy and Abby are on the roof with the indigo icicle lights, Abby will be in shortly, chafing for a trip to Savers. The weather encouraged them, it is 55' with not a quick breath of wind anywhere.