Christmas Morning

8 AM Christmas morning found our door creaking open and Ashley crawling into bed with us for morning time cuddles. She had been waiting so patiently. She woke up at 3 AM, then again at 4, and finally at 7. She confessed to having snuck in to look at the tree and presents before coming in, but she swore she didn't touch anything. It amazes me that a 16 year old girl is still so excited about Santa and Christmas that she can't sleep. Possibly this stems from the fact that the last 2 years we have boycotted Santa and an elaborate Christmas.

Santa apparently did not appreciate the fact that we had not set up the tree or done anything nice with the living room, because when we walked into the living room, it was all done for us. All the presents were laid under the lighted Christmas ficus.

Ashley's Santa gifts were nicely laid also, and she must have been VERY good this year because there were two of them. Stephen and I must have been very bad, because we didn't get any from Santa at all. We have decided to write a letter of complaint.

Stephen must have been right when he said he had an in with Santa, and that he wanted Pringles and beer this year, because all that was left was crumbs. At least he put the bottle on a coaster.

This is a screen shot of the Santa-tracking site we used this year. It was how we knew when we had to get to bed, and we must confess that, while Ashley was in bed and asleep in plenty of time, Stephen and I waited until Santa was in North Africa before we slipped into bed. Maybe that's why we didn't get presents from him.

Ashley opening her presents. This one was a book from Santa. She ended up with quite a few books, some DVD's and a new screen for her iPod, plus a chamomile/lavender scented heatable fuzzy duck (amongst many other things.) She has expressed her happiness and is currently begging Stephen to install the new screen while her nose is stuck in one of those new books and the duck is stuck to her chest.

Stephen had the fewest presents (2) but they were dense. And it might have been a good thing, because he really is delightful when he opens presents. It takes at least 10 minutes, and involves examination and observation of detail, coming to a hypothesis and testing it before he actually opens the gift. He walked away with 5 new games and a new case for his Nintendo DS. He is now happily ignoring Ashley's pleas for her repaired iPod by burying his nose in the new games.

After having opened an incredibly beautiful and massively heavy granite mortar and pestle, Ashley couldn't bear the excitement about this gift for me any longer. Being birthed from the wrapping is a giraffe. I was informed that his name is Jonah and he is a hot water bottle cover. He is lovely and intends to torment Girard and Jo-Jo with the fact that he gets more of my cuddles than they do. He doesn't have much of a giraffe neck, though, so I suspect that the balance is maintained.

Jonah and I wishing you a happy Christmas!

Handsome Stephen looking forward to breakfast.

Ashley and her duck, whom she has named Droopey (for now at least.)

Breakfast was French toast made with seeded multi-grain bread and syrup. Dinner is on the stove and the turkey is roasting in the crock-pot. I'll post pictures and the further story later today. Right now the extended version of Lord of the Rings calls to me with its irresistible siren song.

Have Yourself A...

First of all, a very Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends and family. Even though I didn't do anything, really, but study... I was with you in spirit. Imagining Anna's pumpkin cheesecake, Dar's turkey... my pecan and pumpkin pie. I miss you, my family and friends.

There was, of course, not enough time or fundage to call everyone that I wanted to call, or talk as long as I wanted to those I did call. But my thoughts were with each one of you.

There are still 4 projects left on my plate... and they are all due next week, so this really is crunch time. Last night I dreamt about not getting them all done in time. That I was trapped doing them forever and nothing was actually getting done at all, and that the clock was pressing down on me, crushing me. No wonders what I have been thinking about, right?

There have been so many changes here...

The Christmas lights are turned on in the High Street at night. It is amazing to me how something so simple really transforms the whole street. The trees look as though there are will-o-the-wisps floating in them, the whole street glows, and there is an air of Christmas. It makes me excited for the holiday.

The weather, while still cold, is far less cold than I expected. I still freeze, it is still at least as cold as the deep winter in New Mexico, but there has been no snow, and only one day when I walked outside and swore my face was going to fall off from the bitter frost. It has been raining a lot... which I still haven't gotten used to. I still LOVE the rain so much, seeing it grey outside makes me happy.

The river here is SO sensitive to the rain. When it doesn't rain, the river is low. The ducks and moorhens walk around on rocky patches. But the day after a rain, the river runs deep, and if you see a duck at all, it has attached itself to a glob of waterplants to avoid being swept away. It often amuses me that the ducks are so graceful when they swim, while the moorhens have to paddle like crazy and still get swept downstream. That is the joy of not having webbed feet. Poor moorhens.

Speaking of moorhens, the babies I watched from the time I got here have finished growing up and have moved away. Occasionally Stephen and I see one that he says is one of the babies, but I have no idea how he can tell. They all look the same to me anymore.

The one change that I am not happy with involves the sun. It gets really dark here, really early. By 5:30 it is midnight black. The sun is setting at 4. Stephen tells me that by the deep of winter, we will walk to work/school in the dark, and walk back home in the dark. I can't really imagine that yet... and wonder how I will respond. I hope I am not someone who needs the sun in order to function. I have never not had the sun before...

There are changes in us, too. Ash has taken to going out wandering with her friends, and occasionally she wanders out past when I am comfortable. In her defense, my comfort level has nothing at all to do with time, but with how dark it is... so I feel like she is out WAY too late and it is only 6pm. She is so good about coming home when she says and letting me know when she is going and with whom. For the most part, anyway.

I am ready to be done with this degree. I feel as though I am most productive when I don't have to interrupt what I am doing in order to go to class. I spent a few days at one of the local schools, focused on behavioural disorders, and I enjoyed it. I miss being in a classroom. Next term I will spend 6 weeks in a classroom, and I am looking forward to it. I never wanted to be a teacher because of the studying... but because I love being in a classroom learning with the kids. (Though I find that there are some specific classes I really want to take right now... physics, for one. And something math-y.) I miss Tristan so much that it hurts. And I made an apple pie that was so lovely... including the pie crust, from scratch. Yay me.

Stephen is enjoying his job; at least as much as I suppose it is possible to. He has lots of opportunity to direct his own tasks. He likes that. Gaming happens at our house, which I like, because I can pretend that I am involved even though I'm not... and it makes me a little more ok with the fact that I simply don't have time to do fun things like game the way I want to.

Well, this post is long enough to perhaps make up for a bit of my not blogging as much as I want. By the end of next week, things should calm down. I only have 1 big paper that /must/ be done over the break. The rest of the page long list is simply things to keep me ahead. So I should have more time to keep you all up to date. More soon, then!