Holiday Wrap-up

The house just seems so empty, now that Grammy and Grandpop have gone back east. They left this morning after breakfast, in what can only be described as an optimistic attempt to avoid traffic around Chicago, and should get back home sometime tomorrow. They will then spend the next 48 hours peeling off their cat. Charlie can get a bit clingy.

Resting up for more grandchild time!

We had a good time with them here, on this holiday-packed weekend. We didn't do a whole lot, really - just hung out, ate and talked - but really what more do you want out of life? I'm good. Plus, the girls got to have new bedtime story readers, with each grandparent taking turns. Grammy has the touch, being able to put them right to sleep even before reaching the end of the chapter. I've got to ask how she does that. Maybe she can read to me too.

On Saturday Kim and I left the girls with their grandparents and went out to celebrate our anniversary, which is always more appropriately celebrated on the Saturday after Thanksgiving than on the actual calendar date. That's when everyone remembers it, including us. We had a very nice dinner, after which we were faced with the same question we are always faced with when we go out: What now? It's too early to go home. There's not much happening in our little town, even on a Saturday night. We can't really go to some other, more hopping town, and even if we could we're just not that hopping ourselves. So we ended up at Shopko, where Kim picked out her birthday present. Because that's just the kind of party-dude guy I am.

In fairness, it is what she wanted, and it both looks good and - being a new winter coat - is nice and toasty warm. And purple, which I understand is in this year. Thankfully, it was one of the few coats there that did not look like it had been warehoused since 1974 - apparently those hoods with the fake fur trim are back too. I am old enough to remember the 70s, folks, and they were ugly the first time. Having them come back into style is like someone doing a cover version of "Feelings" - it's technically possible, but utterly pointless and likely to bring back memories long held at bay by years of heavy drinking. Don't try this at home. Waste of good booze.

But this one is a nice coat, and Kim likes it. We have simply reached the point in our lives where "What do you want for your birthday?" is a comfortable and safe question to ask. It certainly cuts down on the outbreaks of "What-the-hell-is-that?" syndrome that often accompany my attempts to figure out that sort of thing on my own.

Technically Kim was not allowed to wear it until the next day, when it was - surprisingly - her birthday. It was a good birthday, laundry day notwithstanding. We had lasagna and wine, and, keeping with the Red Food theme of the day, strawberry ice cream cake. And there were gifts, not all of which did she purchase herself the night before, though most of them were focused on keeping warm.

As a scientist, Kim understands the binary
system used for the candles.

And keeping warm was a definite theme, since we got our first real (i.e. break out the snowblower) snow storm of the season on Sunday and Monday - three to five inches of heavy wet snow that just totally destroyed Tria's outlook on life. She loves going out, even in the cold, but a black cat on a snowy lawn is just silly. Not that this stops her for long - eventually she did go out and bound around in it anyway, as she always does - but even her miniscule cerebral processor found the whole experience disheartening.

Tria cruises the 'hood last February,
freezing off precious brain cells, one at a time.

On the plus side, we did get to keep Grammy and Grandpop one more day, since driving in such muck when you don't have to do so is not all that much fun. So the weather gods are forgiven.