Holiday of Misdeliveries

This holiday arrived sooner than expected and brought with it a comedy of errors.

I spent every evening for a solid week searching for a spirograph set for my niece, before finally accepting that the stores in town were completely sold out. Admitting defeat, I bought a set online for an exorbitant fee. In the meantime I found gifts for both my dad and Mich, which I carefully wrapped and in Mich's case, included little notes since there were specific memories attached to each of her gifts. When I went to mail their packages, I suffered from sticker-shock when I was quoted $45 each to guarantee a Christmas delivery (this did not include the extra fees). I wisely decided not to choose that option since the gifts apparently would not have arrived on time, and actually have yet to arrive as of this writing.

 

In another humorous event, gifts that were sent to me ended up in Brooklyn due to a snafu in completing the address field. Apparently my house number is a zip code in Brooklyn.

This is perfectly reasonable since my card to mom was returned to sender because I failed to complete her address on the envelope. During our Christmas morning phone call, I was questioned why everyone else received a card and not my mom.

I'm assuming the shortage of cards we received this year is due to the same reason I'm still waiting for my Aunt Patty's card. Patty sent me a message that her card was returned because she sent it to my old address so she needed my new one. Of course, I received this message more than a week after I had sent her a card so obviously it takes more than seven days to send a simple card when I could have driven it there in seven hours.

Then the gifts that did arrive on time had their own issues. Dad called a few days before Christmas to tell me that some of my gifts had arrived. He then asked me about my niece's jewelry which raised a red flag for me: How did he know I had sent her jewelry? After interrogating him, I discovered that though I had paid Amazon to wrap the gifts and added a holiday message, the detailed receipt for the items was inside the shipping box. 

Then there were the personal deliveries. I was brave and bought one of James' gifts after work on Christmas Eve Eve. Deciding to keep it hidden in my car, I was in a panic the next morning as I prepared to leave for an early appointment and faced the possibility that James would discover the gift. Because I was braving the mall on Christmas Eve, James asked me to pick him up after my appointment so he could go with me. As James took Bartle into the backyard, I frantically moved the awkwardly large and heavy gift from my car to my office. Of course, I smashed the box into the door knob, puncturing a lovely hole into the box and forcing the object back into me. Amazingly enough, he was none the wiser, though he did ask about the hole when I waddled the box into the living room on Christmas morning.

Becky, Erin, and I typically exchange gifts during Becky's birthday dinner, which was canceled this year following the snow storm. Becky and I eventually exchanged gifts when we saw The Hobbit, surprisingly enough, on Becky's birthday. Erin has been balancing car trouble, holiday demands, sick children, and her own ailment, so we never found the time to connect and exchange gifts even though we work in departments that are next to each other. Finally on New Year's Eve, Erin and I were able to exchange gifts.

Though I'm still waiting on three packages to be delivered, the family calendar, and have been told that a multitude of cards are still in-the-mail, I would say this holiday will go down in history as the holiday of misdeliveries.

A Few of My Favorite Things

One little corner of our house

Several people have remarked that they are not feeling in the Christmas spirit this year. I can relate as Christmas cards and shopping have been low on my priority list, but I refuse to allow this to be a bah humbug season. There are so many little things that make this a wonderful season so I am sharing a few of my favorite things from the past few weeks.

Tree and decorations - Seeing these as I walk in the door causes an uplift in my emotions. My family has a tradition of one new ornament every year so our tree is filled with loving ornaments, each representative of interests and events. Also, the gals and I have exchanged ornaments the past few years so they have a place as well. The candles on the mantle and strewn through the house are from my childhood and the nativity set (not shown) is my mom's. 

Sidewalk is cleared then I gave up

Treats - Sarai, who bakes goodies every year, sent me a box of treats, which were quite yummy. This was followed by several bags of baked goodies during the gift exchange at Sarai's holiday party. I know this may shock several of you, but I brought a homemade dessert to the holiday party this year. So far, I have made two cherry delights (one for the work holiday party and another for Sarai's party), which is what my mom makes for Christmas dessert. And I made my mom's cheese ball which was a Christmas Eve tradition when I was a child.

Snow - I love watching it snow or playing with Bartle, who disappears in the white mess. Though I've not enjoyed shoveling more than a foot of it the past few weeks nor the slick roads which led to me sliding through a stop sign, jumping the sidewalk and missing the lamp post by inches, yet I still want a white Christmas.

Our long distance toast

Friends - Mich and Crystal toasted my news (I promise to share later) this week and posted a pic on fb since 800 miles separate us from celebrating together. 

Peggy made me cry the other week when she responded to my message following her recent surgery. She remarked on how wonderful it was to have friends she loved who cared. 

Delia who made me laugh when she asked if I had re-gifted because great minds led to us giving each other identical chocolates. 

Bartle looking quite pathetic

Kay who delivered Sarai's treat box along with the department's treats with the claim that the germ-a-phobe had her own box so other's didn't breath on it. Laugh it up! I'm not the only germ-a-phobe.

Becky who spent her birthday with me, watching short men run around with long swords, or the latest Hobbit movie. She is one of the few who will suffer with me trying to recall the innumerable characters and their relations to people from the other movies. Her memory recall of the various details from books and movies is truly impressive. FYI ... I'm finally caught up with Once Upon A Time.

Queen of our house

My babies - Bartle had oral surgery this week and was overly pathetic and clingy while Cleo was her typical self, taking the time to approach him and then hissing as if offended. Though James is home for the holiday break, Bartle insists on clinging to me. He spent Friday afternoon at my feet under the dining table, even when James took a nap in the bedroom, which is Bartle's safety place. He sat at my feet while I got ready to go out both Friday and Saturday as well. He really wants his mommy and daddy won't do. I spent all-day Sunday lounging around in my new amazing fleece pajamas ($10 at Wal-Mart featuring woolly lambs), snuggling with Bartle and Cleo while working on the computer. I'm sure it was me and not the pajamas that was the draw.

My F#$k You Playlist

Is it any surprise that I would have a Fuck You Playlist? These are songs that speak the words I want to say or carry an angry tone that I recognize. Some are about break-ups while others are just in response to hurts or betrayals. So I dedicate this latest list to Grumpy, someone close to me who admitted to feeling a bit grumpy lately.

My list in no reasonable order:

Fuck You by Cee-Lo Green
The song title says it all which is interesting since the song has an upbeat tone.

Kiss Off by Violent Femmes
This is truly my favorite Violent Femmes song. Decades later and I still relate to the angst during the what is wrong in life countdown at the end of the song.

I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
The anthem for any woman who has ever left a man.

The Pretender by Foo Fighters
I'm biased here because I am a major Dave Grohl fan. While explaining this song he remarked, "you know, everyone's been fucked over before."

Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood
In my angriest moments, I would have loved to make my exes who cheated pay. Alas, I feared being arrested.

So What by Pink
First off, this song is fun to sing and has an upbeat tempo. The lines that speak to me are "You weren't there, You never were, You want it all, But that's not fair, I gave you life, I gave my all, You weren't there, You let me fall."

Warning: we're about to get dark here:

One Step Closer by Linkin Park
The gals can attest that I always end up front row, singing at the top of my lungs, when TOA covers this song. This song came out during the darkest period of my life and I fully comprehenend the anger and rage that is expressed in the screaming lyrics.

You Make Me Completely Miserable by Lit
With lines like, "I give up all of my plans but who needs them when you mean everything," or the chorus of "you make me com-, you make me complete, you make me completely miserable," this song speaks to me on so many levels.

I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace

Living through a dysfunctional relationship is hard to explain but these lyrics try. The hateful words of this song still resonate with me.

Thank You by Sister Hazel
The first time I heard this song, it could have been my words. More than a decade later and this song is my true fuck you anthem to my ex while explaining my belief that I had to live through that experience to become the person I am today.

"I had to walk away down the road just to clear my head
On another fun filled day, was doin' fine but you're back instead.
Now, I'm not the only one who saw you for just what you were
You pushed me, an' I'd keep tryin', I'd leave you, but you'd start cryin'.

But you won't fool me, I'm smarter than that

You were the one who taught me what I don't need
And I thank you, I thank you for that.
You were the one that brought me to my senses
And I thank you, now just leave me alone.

I had to drive away, far away 'til you could not find me
And it was a beautiful day, liberated and you're far behind me.
What you did I'll never mention, where you were, I don't want to know..."

Hopefully Grumpy will enjoy some of these songs. Considering that many of us have our favorite break-up songs or anger songs, does anyone care to share their Fuck You songs?

Thankgiving Musings

I had plans to post sooner, but the plague stole all my energy and prevented me from sharing my Thanksgiving weekend adventures. I love Thanksgiving! It is representative of the fall season, includes a large family meal featuring all my favorites, kicks-off the holiday season which requires decorating the house while reminiscing over the various ornaments and trinkets, and the weekend is dominated by state rivalries in college football.

Dad, Mom, Mel & James

My mom is the youngest of eight kids, meaning we have a large family who are scattered across the US so it is rare for us to get together. Though our last family reunion was almost twenty years ago, I remain close with some of our relations while there are others who I haven't seen in what feels like forever.

My Aunt Kay does not realize that I have been aware of her struggles and they have greatly influenced my life. I admire her strength and perseverance, her friendship with her ex and daughter, and her love of my mom. Kay survived breast cancer at a young age but required a full mastectomy. She was one of the women whose silicone implants leaked, poisoning her body and destroying one of her lungs. Kay's remaining lung is failing and she was denied a transplant hence a decision was made to have a reunion, in order to have these final memories with her.

James and I drove to a little town outside of Pittsburgh to spend Thanksgiving with almost fifty other people, most of whom hubby had never met. In order to prepare James for the mayhem of a loud family reunion, we began our road trip with lots of loud singing, i.e. my singing. REM was the band of choice for this trip but Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Linkin' Park had quite a bit of airtime.

Dale sharing his genealogy research

I spent the majority of the trip discussing family history with my Uncle Dale, who has researched with me in Salt Lake and more recently reviewed my brick wall. Dale brought more than a hundred pages of research with him from Denver because he wanted my opinion on his recent discovery. Following the trail I had given him in October, he had finally uncovered the missing link that had hindered my research for more than a decade and had progressed back two generations. One of my proudest moments at the reunion was listening to him share his findings with his siblings. He was really enthused and a quick study. As he was showing off one document, he pointed out some random numbers and remarked, Melissa says this indicates his property. He went on and on and on, detailing my explanation of what it signified and how he should approach the next steps of his research as well as my remarks on military research. I appreciated hearing him tell the family that I really knew my stuff, especially since my family doesn't understand my work.

Rose, Kay, Mom, Dale, Ken & Arthur

Though I spent time with my parents on Wednesday night, Mom was busy with her siblings, leaving James and I to entertain dad on Thanksgiving. It was worth the drive, in order to be with my parents for the holiday. Unfortunately, Kay's health had taken a downturn and she could not travel to Pittsburgh, so my uncle rented a van and the siblings drove to Baltimore to spend the day with her.

James and I returned back home with weekend plans, but the plague set-in delaying our decorating and preventing me from watching football. Through the power of drugs, I managed to see Catching Fire with Becky and Erin as part of our semi-annual movie night though it's a bit of a blur, which means I now have an excuse to see it again. The plague took its toll on me, but I still had a nice holiday with my parents, had James setting up the Christmas tree and taking care of me.