Man oh man oh man. I feel so guilty about not writing that it's killing me. There are so many interesting things to say, but I probably won't remember any of them.
We had a great Christmas and New Year's Eve. I took off Christmas week so we could make the rounds and visit the families. We went back home to the Bronx on Saturday the 21st. But wait, that wasn't the first of it. Thursday night Kate felt really ill. We eventually took her to the emergency room. After some anti-nausea medication and morphine (that's the stuff), we found out that she had a stomach flu. If that sounds nasty, you should have been there when the nurse asked to see Kate's most recent vomit. It was great. Needless to say, I didn't go into work on Friday. Instead, I wrapped presents and packed up for the week. I decided to have the nine days of Henley, since I have so many of those long-sleeved shirts, I packed one for each day of our vacation.
So, we rode down to the Bronx Saturday morning, Kate with a trash can in her lap and I with my cap listened PJ Harvey, Patty Griffith, The Strokes, and David Garza. Traffic was light.
One of those nights we got to hang out with some of our friends. Dinner at Little Poland. Drinks at the very empty Remote Lounge. More drinks at Von. We drove Saku and Marc home. When we drove Nick home we dropped inside to see Arthur, back from LA for the holidays. Kate finally got to meet his family, which was great. They were ranting and raving about paper towels in the toilet, Chris's employment, my new business, the hobo Christmas they were having, and anything else that came to mind. Of the three women sound asleep on the couch when we arrived, Aunt Mandy woke up to say hi, Nana woke up to talk about sex, and Aunt Phyllis slept through the whole thing. Kate was impressed.
We got to see all the Andersons on Christmas Eve. We ate a wonderful dinner (thanks Mom) and exchanged gifts.
Christmas lasted a few lifetimes. We had the usually morning festivities. Then, we got the call that the Colellos of Ramsey were leaving their house on their way to ours, bringing with them Grandma Jean. Minutes later the doorbell rang and it was Grammy and Pop-pop, arriving from Cape Cod. Everyone was told to get there early to be able to see us before we left for East Greenbush. So, Grammy and Pop-pop arrive at 10 AM. The Colellos of Ramsey arrive at 11 AM. And we're set. We're looking at wedding photos. We're exchanging gifts. We're chitchatting about promotions and work and video games and whatever else comes up.
Then we head off to Kate's parents at 1 PM. In the Bronx there is sleet and cold rain. Over the Tappan Zee Bridge there is snow. From then on, the ride was hell. The road was terrible. Cars were off the road, front end kissing the guardrails. People were going so slowly, and with good reason. You were sliding on snow. You were not sure if you were on the road. You could not see pavement. Thank God we bought a Subaru. Darkness falls and the roads are even worse. After five hours in the car, we made it to dinner. Too bad none of the other aunts and uncles were there. They cancelled because of the weather. But we had a nice dinner anyway.
Then we did the whole gift exchange with the MacArevey's. It's interesting to be, all of a sudden, a part of something that you were never a part of. We didn't go bowling, but we met up with Kate's aunts and uncles at Nana's. Then we went to Uncle Mike's party for a little while.
Gee, this is sounding like a lifeless schedule of events rather than the thoughtful interpretation that a blog is expected to be. Too bad.
New Year's Eve was great. We stayed home. We drank Bull Frogs (a very tasty mix of Vodka and Lemonade - we had Newman's Own Pink Lemonade). We ate filet mignon and some amazing vegetable bread. New Year's Day was a little bit stressful because we were trying to clean up the apartment. So, I hit the ground running first thing our of bed, and burned out by about 2 PM. I wanted to take a nap, but our sheets were in the washing machine. Everywhere I looked there were things. Things that needed to be put away. Things that were in the way. It seemed hopeless. Somehow I regained my path and was able to get some other stuff done. We shredded papers like there was no tomorrow and we used the handy credit card shredder slot as well.
So, if anyone is still reading, next year we are staying home.
Oh yeah, Happy New Year!
Posted at 10:54:27