What I did on my pre-Christmas vacation

Because I'm gearing up for 11 days off work (as perhaps you are, too!), I have been very busy. Like a bee, but without the sound or the stinger if you get too close. Here's why I've been busy: Because when you get 11 days off work you cannot just wait until they happen and then try to cram everything –  see friends and see no one, eat bad for you food and really good food (that you finally have time to make), do so much and do nothing at all, watch a million movies and walk a million miles, have totally fun and totally relaxing time - into 11 days. You have to prepare.

Otherwise, before you know it you've relaxed but got nothing done, or seen a bunch of people but seen no movies. You haven't done it ALL.

And I want to do it all.

Because 11 days is really not that much time at all, when you think about it. By the time you pack up the presents and drive to another city and open the presents and do the dishes and make cranberries (do you really make cranberries? Or are you really just cooking them? I suppose you're making cranberry sauce. Right. Moving on...) and sleep a bunch of times and listen to the same stories even more times and then go to someone else's house who you don't even know but your parents do and they tell you that you do and your eyes glaze over while you meet people you will likely never see again and wish you were at home instead watching a movie and then feeling guilty for wanting to be antisocial, well then half your 11 days is gone.

So... in preparation, here's what I've been doing:

...Baking a lot of cookies. And then eating them. For some reason I either thought I had way more people that I liked and wanted to give cookies to, or I just made everything really tiny, but I've got a lot of cookies in my fridge. So I've been eating them, like every day. Several times a day. Then, yesterday, I made a pie for a potluck at work and I felt my body rebelling against chocolate. I'm pretty sure this has NEVER happened before, so I'm not sure but I think what it means is that I'm officially done eating sweets. I really can't believe I'm saying it, and I offered to make dessert for Christmas dinner and at this point I'm thinking that I'm going to give everyone an orange and tell them to go nuts. (I do believe that was a mixed metaphor). Still, what this means is that I am now done one thing I usually do AFTER Christmas, leaving me much more time for other fun stuff. Like:

...Watching Biography. So far I know more than I used to about Bonnie Fuller, Mary Kay, Joe Bonnano, Robert F. Kennedy and Benjamin Franklin. I'm saving Jean Pare (you know, the spiral-bound cookbook lady) for right before I go on my Christmas open house tour. I feel it's going to be a kiss-ass 50+ conversation starter.

...Trying to figure out what the Hubs got me for Christmas. It's in a very large box, the biggest of all under the tree, and I DO believe that good things come in big packages.

...Trying to figure out if the transvestite on Dirty Sexy Money is actually a man or actually a woman...I've been thinking about this for weeks and keep forgetting to imdb.com it. Aha. Candis Cayne (nee Brendan McDaniel).

...Wondering if I should start watching Lost over the holidays. My neighbour has been going on and on FOREVER about how amazing it is, and last night he said I wasn't going home until I took Season 1 with me. I'm all for TV on DVD (I'm saving Deadwood Season 3 for the holidays), but I'm just not sure about Lost. What do you think? Is it worth watching now that I'm like five years behind or will the hype spoil it?

...Waiting for the Magic Oven Pizza to open next door! First Booster Juice, now Magic Oven? My street is like a cornucopia of excellent dinner choices. Which is a good thing because this shawarma spot went out of business...



Apparently people didn't want their shawarma and their pizza too.

As my dad would say, Too bad, so sad. And more space for another Thai place!