(As a reminder, Amazon is giving away free winter holiday MP3s here. The deal presumably ends on the 26th, so get them while they're still available.)
In other news, what are you doing lately? Not everyone spends time with family on December 25th -- in our case, Husband is very often in another state, doting on his children, and Parents are very frequently on a cruise or some other fun-place-with-food, so Ana is frequently alone on Yule.
Since Yule is one of the very few Wiccan holidays I actually have a bit of free quiet time (because I can't not give out candy on Halloween), I tend to try to spend the evening in quiet meditation, with possibly some reflection on the upcoming year and maybe some introspective Tarot reading to guide my thoughts and plans. And then when I get antsy, I'll usually go play computer games because dear sweet earth mother, A.D.D. and quiet meditation are like oil and water, you know?
So what are your plans for the weekend?
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So what are your plans for the weekend?
On Christmas Eve, we're going to a Chinese buffet for dinner. And by dinner, I mean lunch, because the dinner price (especially on holidays) is really really high. I do recommend them if you're ever in the area in the afternoon, though the chicken fingers have a lot of batter for those used to the American sort. (Most Canadian Chinese restaurants--at least those around here--put on lots of batter to make them spherical for some reason. They're not quite as good, but I've gotten sufficiently used to them that I feel pleasantly surprised when they're not like that, rather than disappointed when they are.)
On Christmas Day, Mom's getting up early to watch the Doctor Who series 6 marathon beginning at 7:30 AM. Probably I'll do like with the Torchwood marathons, choosing the more boring episodes to ignore so I don't get burnt out.
In the afternoon, we at DS9 Rewatch [insert profuse thanks to Lonespark here] are holding a special event for people who don't mind that it's Christmas Day: "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "Trials and Tribble-ations" back-to-back. I think we're doing it again in the evening (we usually do on Sundays), but I'll have to miss most of it because of the Doctor Who Christmas special.
Also, Christmas Day is the first anniversary of my first comment at Slacktivist (which, I just found out looking for the link, has now been transferred to Patheos and the time zone...actually, what did happen to the time? Eastern mistaken for UTC and over-translated? I'm quite certain it was 10-something PM Eastern when I posted that). My year as a Slacktivite has been a wonderful and interesting one, much of that thanks to the people reading this post. (Feels a bit weird making the first announcement here, but then again, part of the point is how the Slacktisphere is a network of blogs (though with a clear centre) rather than a single one. More fun that way.)
(It all seems very eventful when I actually lay it out, though part of that's all the link HTML making the post look longer than it is. They don't call it the Ramblings for nothing, I suppose; doesn't have to be just Ana's.)
A holiday present for all Ramblians!
When we start casting the TWILIGHT re-make with anthropomorphic animals, I've got our emo leading man.
(When I saw this on a shelving cart this morning, I started laughing like a loon)
Other than that, I am at work, and very bored. Most of the other City offices are closed. It's just us, the Police, and the Fire Department, to cover all your holiday emergencies: crime, disaster, and a desperate need to check out a DVD for the weekend.
I plan to finally, FINALLY, cook the winter squash on my counter, make a bowl full of rice flour dumplings, and make squash porridge. I'll cut a bunch of onions for Monday's cooking, and have a nice cathartic cry. Then I'm going to eat a giant bowlful of porridge with a nice mustard green salad, fried anchovies, kimchi and a bottle of wine, and I'm going to read my Fedco seed catalog cover to cover and daydream about the garden I want.
Then I'm going to go make a model program for cow genetics.
It's going to be a good day.
Dav: I'll cut a bunch of onions for Monday's cooking, and have a nice cathartic cry.
Nice? I had to cut up some onion yesterday for dinner. I barely stumbled to the fridge to put the other half (it was a big onion) away and spent the next few minutes curled in a ball on the couch waiting for the pain to go away.
I was mostly kidding. I actually plan to wear my chemistry goggles. One of the advantages of living alone is that no one can look at you funny for wearing pajamas and giant plastic goggles.
I published a book! (http://yamikuronue.wordpress.com/writings/) I'm hoping the happy, satisfied glow from that carries over to my whole Christmas weekend; I wanted to have it up in time for people with new e-readers to find it, so I've been rushing around all week fixing formatting, et cetera. I'm glad to finally have some time off so I can just relax, maybe catch up on some TV shows, maybe play some games...
Aw who am I kidding, I'm going to spend most of the weekend dancing around with glee and then cooking up a storm. I'm making Alton Brown's ham! I try not to eat a lot of pork but it's Christmas, what do I care. Delicious ham smothered in ginger and brown sugar and burbon....mmmm
I just put up the tree. I had three strands of lights, one that was generally working, two that were half working. Using lights from another strand that wasn't working at all I was able to bring that up to two and a half working strands, which are on the tree now.
I don't have any plans for the weekend, my sister will probably arrange a family get together on Christmas, I would guess.
I probably should try to do something good and memorable, it might be my last Christmas in my house, but I have no idea what that would be. I wonder if I could dig up the tape the tribble episodes are on.
There is so much awesome in this thread. I love Edward the Emu. I'm so excited about Bayley's book! I, too, love to dream over seed catalogs! (Although, in my case, I have a black thumb and kill EVERYTHING I plant, so......)
This must have been posted while I was typing my comment, and thus I missed it. Anyway, good for you.
D’aww!! Ana, don’t feel alone! D:
My mother and my sister both work on Christmas Eve and Christmas day every year. So, I’m going to be home all alone, too. Because of our different schedules, we usually try to hang out *after* Christmas when all the clearance sales are and the streets are still relatively empty. Hell, we haven’t even put up a tree this year. Besides, I like the quiet, too. ^ ^
And smile more! I’m about to send my Part Three of WUYM to you…possibly tonight, even! *tries to make you smile while not forcing you to bake like Rhodes*
Ahahaha, now I WANT to bake. I think I have a lemon bars box recipe in the pantry... :D
Oh my goodness...lemon bars?! You, Ana Mardoll are my hero. I wish I lived just down the street from you!!! I'd be the peskiest college brat you've ever met!!! :D
@hapax, re book: hahahaha! He's perfect!
Also, I'm sorry you were bored at work today (so was I), but I'm rather impressed that your civic overlords consider the library to be an essential service. It's a three-day weekend furlough for the unfortunate staff in my local system.
@chris: hugs and sympathy (and wishing I had something practical to advise).
@Bayley G: congratulations!
(In our house, it's ham-- Limerick ham-- for New Year's Day.)
@Amarie: I wish you lived up the street from me, and that all the other Ramblers were likewise in the neighborhood. I, um, kind of got carried away with the Christmas cookie baking. (Every year I say I'm not going to do all that again, and every year I do.)
We're invited to Christmas Eve dinner with friends tomorrow night, so they'll be getting cookies, lots of cookies, for Christmas.
Happy holidays to all who are celebrating, and wishing a peaceful, relaxing weekend to everyone.
This Christmas, I will mostly be thinking that my mother is a saint. Seriously, the poor lady has to put up with me, an incredibly visceral and vocal, fully paid-up member of the "I hate Christmas and really mean it" camp, her mother (who nearly had a heart attack over the fact I kept calling the beer we purchased for her brother to drink over Christmas "lager", largely because that's what it is to an English person), a wee three-hour drive on Boxing Day to collect her uncle and aunt from the airport and a flying visit from my brother's brood on the 27th, largely because he feels guilty when we go more than a year without seeing his children. Oh, and getting doorstopped by my father, who I haven't spoken to in three years.
In the midst of all this, I will probably be getting incredibly drunk, because that's the only way I can cope with Christmas. And feeling guilty that I'm not more helpful to the aforemention parental unit during this time of great tribulation.
Er, many apologies for the random outpouring, methinks.
*sighs sadly* I swear, if we all lived in relative walking distance to each other? We'd CREAM the Cullen family as a tight-knit community. *snickers at the backwards image*
Oh dear...I miss baking chocolate chip cookies with my Mommy! You guys are lucky! :D
Silv's not doing a whole lot. Time spent with Significant Other and zie's friends, gift-opening, and such. There is baking and cooking to be done, though.
I would happily eat the baked goods in the thread, but I'm not much for VEWPRF (Vague Early Winter Possibly Religious Festival) cheer for the last few years. Perhaps I need a wealthy Manic Pixie Dream Girl/Guy to fix me?
We're not doing anything out of the ordinary for the actual holiday, but I did watch all six Star Wars movies back to back with my brother tonight, or more accurately, yesterday afternoon, last night, and this morning.
*sighs sadly* I swear, if we all lived in relative walking distance to each other?
It would be awesome.
I have brownies, you'd all be invited to share in them but you'd have to get here first.
chris: I have brownies, you'd all be invited to share in them but you'd have to get here first.
We could trade! Somebody (and both of the people who might have should know better) put sprinkles on my chocolate-covered pretzels, and gingerbread's really only good in small doses. I think I've exceeded my monthly limit, especially with those ginger snaps at the cooking class. You can't have my fudge, though. The fudge is mine.
I'm going to my parents' house later today - as far as I know it'll just be them, me, my husband, and my sister. With any luck we'll get at least one of the parental units to join us in a board game. Then tomorrow we'll be going to visit my husband's family, where it's extraordinarily unlikely anyone will want to play board games, but there's an off-chance of a movie. If I can get my act together, I'll make some sugar cookies or pfeffernusse to take tomorrow, in addition to the Bourbon Slush I'll be making after posting this comment.
Bourbon Slush is super-easy and always popular, if anyone's interested in trying it. Just get some frozen concentrate of orange juice and lemonade and mix with bourbon, tea, sugar, and water (less water than you think you need), then freeze until slushy. Use a good tea like Constant Comment rather than Lipton orange pekoe; you will notice the difference.
My husband had to work all day yesterday and today (woo - 10:30 AM-9:00 PM in a restaurant!), so we're celebrating Christmas Eve tonight and Christmas tomorrow. (Although we did go to Christmas Eve church service yesterday.) Right now, my parents are watching an Outer Limits marathon and then we're going to go a movie. Tomorrow, on the other hand, we're going to open presents, make a big lasagna, bake, and go to the special holiday light display at the zoo.
New Year's Day is my engagement anniversary, so we're going out then. We'll need it, my parents will be in town this weekend
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