(no subject)

Oh dear... I really have not been good about updating. Holiday madness has officially begun.

Wednesday: Got to airport way earlier than I needed to. Got my mom without trouble, got her home, made baking date for Friday.

Thursday was the funeral (thankfully noone I knew) so we got up bright and early, grabbed bagel goodness, and down to Modesto we went. I stayed home with Mum while FIL & Nate went back up for the funeral. Mostly keeping track of the medication for her and there in case anything should happen... it was a quiet day, and I finished up Cassie's bath basket stuff (bag & sachet) before she got home - oh wonderfulness. Also finished up the book I was reading. After Nate & Karl got back, we went home where we met up with Trudi briefly for gift exchange and pack mule duty assignations.

Friday: Baking goodness. Mom called at 10, I showered & got ready, went by Laurel Grove's pharmacy to pick up the industrial mixer for *gasp*horror* divinity attempts. Went over to mom's, we made up a big long list of all the cookies and candies we wanted to make, and list of what we needed, and went to store. Got everything we needed except a candy thermometer. Not peachy, but we got started. We have brownies, we have fudge, we have peanut butter cookies, we have peanut butter cookies with hersheys kisses, we have sugar cookies, we have thumbprint cookies with jam, we have german chocolate cake (okay, we bought that), we have macaroons.... we may have other stuff I'm forgetting. We do not have divinity, we do not have choc chip cookies, we do not have truffles. Ah well - maybe next year.

Saturday: went to last-minute-notification Christmas party at my Aunt Peggy's. It was good. Less gossip about who was in prison/running from the law/divorcing/knocked up and less variety of food (lots of sweet, no pickles/olives/such) but otherwise just like the Christmasses of my childhood. It was really nice. The semi-present father in my life has once again seemed to think that money will make up for the fact that some Christmasses I don't even hear from him. I suppose in some ways it does - just not how he thinks. Anyway, it was nice to see them and everyone else - I felt welcome there in a way I have not felt welcome in his life in a long time. And we are *supposed* to see each other more - we will see. And they missed my mom - which was nice.

In between all this, Nate has done alot of work on the hearth - it is all finished except for the contact paper, which will happen once the paint is dry. Hope to have pictures soon! But it's been a busy but happy weekend so far, and it was brought to my attention that I haven't updated so..... that's why. Love you all, have merry Christmasses, take care and such. Amy is sleepy and headed to bed.

(no subject)

12/23 - Please ignore the following entry as apparently there was a bit of a miscommunication, and the ensuing rant does not apply.



Original entry:
Rrrrr...

So Nate was just telling me a little bit about a conversation he was having with a friend of mine. This person lives far away and sending stuff right now is just insane, so I let them know that it would prolly be late. I thought I was being considerate, but no, they are upset because only theirs is late, some other peoples gifts (like, people I actually see) will be getting theirs on time. Well I'm sorry, but since yours is more difficult to get to you, it's going to take more time. If I could swing by your house and drop it off, it wouldn't be late. But WTFEver... That's not bad enough, they are also upset that we bought them something (which is the majority but not the entirety of the planned gift) instead of my making it myself. Since I am making many people's gifts this year, and I know they like homemade stuff, this would make sense, IF every time I shared/showed them something I made, they hadn't been like "Oh that's nice... but I don't want you to make that for my gift" Grrrr, it just makes me mad!! Christmas gifts are not supposed to be about expectations! And WTF is up with this comparing your gift to someone elses - especially since you don't know what it is! Boy, that's the holiday spirit! It's not like *you* spent alot of time handmaking something for *me*, if you want to make comparisons. I will probably calm down about this in a bit, but right now, I'm so mad I feel like keeping your nice presents and just Fed Exing you a lump of coal that I carved myself out of the big hunk of it we have. There ya go! Homemade gift, arrived before xmas. Hope you enjoy it!