merry christmas, i made it home!

The weather cooperated enough for me to make my short trip home on Christmas Eve. Thank goodness I did not ruin Christmas! It actually rained the entire way on Thursday...now I know what Christmas in Seattle is like ;) The trip back to MKE was a little slippery as the rain started to freeze, but it wasn't too bad. I made it back in plenty of time to be on call but not be called in, hooray. Other members of the clan were not as lucky, as Dani in Iowa and Grandma Z in Norwalk were both snowbound for the holiday. Boo.

It was a very nice Christmas. Continuing our tradition stemming from the time the priest blamed the world's trouble on women, we did not attend Mass; instead, we enjoyed a tasty pepper pork roast, cheesy hashbrowns, crudites and hummus, homemade bread, and dessert. The boys made oyster stew [Mom and I shuddered in disgust]. Dinner was followed by the opening of one gift [a jewelry stand for me] and then we watched Inglorious Basterds. Eh. We'll just say Quentin Tarantino continued his tradition of gratuitous violence and lack of character development. I went to bed after that, the boys stayed up and watched Terminator 3. Seriously, who let Dad pick out the movies this year? The other ones were The Hangover and something equally as silly.

Christmas Day brought more presents, the coveting of Dad's new camera by Mom, and the ever-popular family portrait complete with obscene gestures and forced smiles by the 11th take. Lunch was a tasty honey-glazed ham and garlic-cheese mashed garden potatoes. We played Scrabble after lunch, and then I headed back to MKE, where I reclined on the couch with a silly Mr. Tux for the rest of the evening.

Yesterday, I cleaned the entire apartment...you know, when the bug bites, there's no stopping it! Today I'm going to pick something to do for New Year's that does not involve Water Street, Jo Cat's, or Sheryl Crow [those are the only stipulations], and look up flights to NYC. <--my vacation to San Francisco is probably going to be changed to NYC because Grandma Z wants to go to Ellis Island, and who can deny the coolest 80 year old woman that opportunity?

peace and love,

m