News and Updates

 

1. No, we haven’t gotten our Christmas cards out yet. It was a long year, mostly good though entirely without rest. Maybe by Groundhog Day.

2. The house feels a bit empty without Mithra. I suppose we’ll get used to it. We do still have Midgie, who may or may not have figured out that anything has changed, and during semester break we’re cat-sitting for Max’s kitty David S. Pumpkin, who is a whirlwind of his own.

3. We celebrated my birthday on Friday, since trying to do so on my actual birthday – a few days before Christmas – is almost never a winning cause for anyone. We had homemade General Tso Chicken and brownies for dessert, and afterward we cranked up the tunes (did you know that if you ask Spotify to play the entire Breakfast in America album by Supertramp on repeat nobody will come along and stop you?) and played Phase 10, and as far as I am concerned a better birthday cannot be had than sharing food, time, and stories with my family.

4. We were planning to celebrate Oliver’s birthday last night but he had Places To Be – one of his friends was having a dinner party – so we moved the egg rolls and chocolate chip cookies to lunchtime instead. Happy birthday, Oliver! I’m proud of you.

5. Lauren also had Places to Be, as she and several friends went out to dinner and then out in general afterward, so our New Year’s Eve was quiet. Kim and I watched the Packers game – they’re 8-8 now and looking a whole lot more like a winning team than my 11-5 Eagles – and generally hung out. We made it to midnight and promptly turned out the lights and that’s not a bad way to spend New Year’s really.

6. I will be posting my annual book review posts sometime soon, though there will likely be some delays. I’ll get to them. It’s been a light year for reading, as it has been a heavy year for everything else. Having both time and spoons at once has been tricky to manage.

7. One of the things we did while we were in Tennessee was pull out a box of question cards. They’re meant for people to ask their grandparents about the Old Days, but Lauren decided to ask all of my generation at the B&B instead, and it is a lovely thing to tell old stories to people who are interested in hearing them.

Before everything, before even humans, there were stories. A creature at a fire, conjuring a world with nothing but its voice and the listener’s imagination. … And after: after fire and death or whatever else happens next, after the wiping clean or the gradual decay, after the after, when there are only a few creatures left, there will be one at a fire, telling a story, to whatever family it has left. It was the first thing, and it will be the last. (Welcome to Night Vale)

8. There is something vaguely ridiculous about being in a grocery store at 6pm on New Year’s Eve with a basket full of cheese, and we need more ridiculousness in our lives that way.

9. Oliver and I have been watching Flyers games on recorded delay as the evenings have been busy of late. They’ve long been an entertaining team to watch – they work hard and don’t quit – but they’re actually doing well of late, much to everyone’s surprise. As a Philadelphia fan I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.

10. Happy New Year’s, folks. Let’s be careful out there.