the_rck: (Default)
[personal profile] the_rck
I have found another sort of trivial thing that will make me stop reading a book even when everything else seems more or less okay— I started a book last night, and a character turned up a couple of chapters in who was named Harold Hill. He was a politician, but he was an incompetent one, one who couldn’t read people or improvise or persuade. And I couldn’t. It’s possible the author has never heard of The Music Man, but the book came out in 2013. Google existed. And the author is 70 and from the US. I guess I feel there are certain names that shouldn’t be used unless there’s some layer of acknowledgment or connection with the other folks who’ve had that name.

Cordelia told me yesterday that she wanted to pay for the present I’d bought for her to give to her father. This is a first. She was a little appalled to learn that it was $14, but she had twice that in her purse and got another $20 in back allowance later in the day, so I don’t think it was a terrible burden. But I wouldn’t have asked her for the money. I think it’s a good thing that she wants to pay, but I wouldn’t have demanded it. She said if feels too much like stealing to give a gift that she didn’t pay for. Somehow, I don’t think that will apply to birthday gifts for friends, but who knows?

Cordelia’s friend arrived for tree decorating promptly at 3:00 yesterday. Scott didn’t get home until about twenty minutes later, but we had the tree put together and ready to decorate by 3:30. I didn’t end up doing much but eating a couple of cookies. (Scott bought a lot of cookies, enough that we sent our guest home with a pretty good sized tub of them. I think he was feeling guilty about the fact that neither of us baked anything.) I almost forgot about the little box of candy shaped ornaments I bought last January and have been keeping tucked away in a corner on my bookshelf, but I remembered right as Scott was getting ready to call the tree done.

I tried to find some good Christmas music to play, but I deleted most of what I had earlier this year when I was running out of space on my laptop and hadn’t gotten around to reimporting it. Our CD shelf in the study is currently inaccessible because of the stuff we had to move out of the living room in order to put the tree up. We listened to the Phineas and Ferb Christmas album, and that went over well, but everything else I tried (mostly YouTube) didn’t appeal. Scott found, somewhere or another, a version of The Twelve Days of Christmas that included the notes that the true love wrote in response to the gifts. That was fairly funny.

I considered trying to go to the library with Scott and Cordelia after Cordelia’s friend went home, but I really wanted to get that shirt off so that the itching would drop back to tolerable levels. I’m really not sure what to do about the itching. I do wonder if I should stop using the Domeboro soaks. They kind of help and kind of make things worse.

Talking to a friend yesterday reminded me of the animated version of Rikki Tikki Tavi, and I found it on YouTube and ended up rewatching it. That show gave me a very anthropomorphized image of mongoose. I have it on VHS somewhere around here, but I don’t know that it will still play.

I’m still debating what to do about the family gatherings on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. At this point, I’m thinking that Christmas Eve might be too hard. It’s a longer drive, and I would have to dress up because of the going to church part which means I wouldn’t be able to take breaks to go and put aloe or lotion on my breast. The only dressy thing I own is a relatively tight dress that I’d have to take off entirely if I wanted to apply lotion. Christmas Day is a lot more laid back, and I can wear whatever I want to. It’s also only half as long a drive and a lot more flexible about how early we go and how long we stay.

Scott and Cordelia have both said that they’re okay with whatever decision I make. I haven’t talked to Scott’s mother or sister about it. I just haven’t wanted to deal with it. I also feel like it matters more what Scott and Cordelia think. I don’t think I’d enjoy Christmas Day alone. It wouldn’t be terrible, but I’m used to it as a day that I spend with other people, even if I spend most of it listening to my SIL’s MIL who talks non-stop. No one else will sit and listen to her. Scott tends to spend the whole day, apart from dinner, playing board games with whoever is interested. It’s one of the few occasions when he gets to do that. Cordelia tends to try to play some specific games that she knows she likes (she won’t try new ones without a lot of persuasion). The fact that her cousins aren’t as interested in spending time with her as they used to be makes it harder. (And it’s actually worse in the years when Scott’s brother and his family come because the local cousin who’s a bit older than Cordelia is has bonded strongly with the cousin from Seattle who’s a bit younger than Cordelia, and they tend to exclude her. Cordelia says she doesn’t mind, but I wonder.)

I think I’m going to give first priority, cooking wise, to the Christmas porridge and the bacon wrapped dates as opposed to the cookies I’d like to make. The porridge is necessary. I don’t know what we’d eat Christmas morning without it, and we’ve had it every year since Cordelia was old enough to eat it. The bacon wrapped dates are less urgent, but I only make them once a year, and everybody enjoys them. Given the way the year has been for us, everyone will understand if I don’t make them, but they’re pretty easy, and I can do pretty much everything while sitting. If I time it right, I can even get Scott to put them in the oven and take them back out again.

I’m pretty tired today. I slept badly last night. I might try napping. Except that I need to do dishes and laundry. Maybe I can get Cordelia to do the laundry part of things…

Date: 2015-12-21 05:39 pm (UTC)
alexseanchai: Katsuki Yuuri wearing a blue jacket and his glasses and holding a poodle, in front of the asexual pride flag with a rainbow heart inset. (Default)
From: [personal profile] alexseanchai
Scott found, somewhere or another, a version of The Twelve Days of Christmas that included the notes that the true love wrote in response to the gifts. That was fairly funny.

Ooh? Where?

Possibly Wintertide by Alexander James Adams and Heather Alexander is your speed? Some straight-up Christmas, some straight-up Pagan, some mix.

Sounds like Cordelia's learned something about ethics. I mean, not that it's unethical for you to buy a gift for her to give, but it does seem more ethical from where I am for her to pay for it herself. Also more meaningful on multiple levels.

Date: 2015-12-21 07:02 pm (UTC)
alexseanchai: Katsuki Yuuri wearing a blue jacket and his glasses and holding a poodle, in front of the asexual pride flag with a rainbow heart inset. (Default)
From: [personal profile] alexseanchai

:) and thank you for the link!

Date: 2015-12-21 11:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] evalerie.livejournal.com
I love that Cordelia wanted to pay for Scott's gift. What a neat kid!!

You are welcome over here on Christmas day, though I suppose that would require you to put on clothes, so I don't know if it would work for you. But maybe I could pick you up and bring you over here for a short time, and then you would have more control over how long you were away from home, and you wouldn't be stuck on a road trip. We don't do that much on Christmas day -- just open gifts and try them out, or play board games. But we'd be happy to have you over if it sounds appealing to you.

Anyway, just one more option that you are welcome to consider if you'd like.

February 2023

S M T W T F S
   1234
567891011
12 131415161718
19 202122 232425
262728    

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 25th, 2025 08:00 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios