A Great Christmasy Weekend

My nice weekend began when Kate came over Friday night and we exchanged gifts. Kate and I had set a gift limit this year. Are gifts to each other were largely in a round about way gifts to our selves. Kate has been bringing me to game nights through Meetup groups. We've learned several different card games, and so I had purchased her a couple of these. A game called Sequence and an Italian set of cards on which a game called Briscola is played. I also bought a blanket that Kate had wanted. Kate got me a great Ansel Adams calendar that I'll enjoy looking at all year. She also got a Christmas ornament for the tree. This has become a tradition for Kate. This year's ornament is a turtle that has a southwest theme to remind us of our trip to Arizona. Lastly she bought a 1000 piece puzzle that has a Christmas theme. It is a coca-cola ad showing an old general store in a snow scene. The idea is that we could frame it and use it as a Christmas decoration some day.

Saturday Kate headed off to do some errands, and I did laundry. She returned around 4:00 so we could travel to Maine for a tree trimming party at my parents. Kate was a bit leery because of the impending Blizzard that we'd get stranded, however knowing this never happens in New England, and also going on the forecast which said the storm would miss Maine and wouldn't start in Boston till 5:00 pm I convinced her (I think) that her worries were unfounded.

Kate however, has been my major support, especially recently, helping me cope with a litany of concerns that I've had. All of which are largely unfounded and some of which are on problems that are at least partially imagined or blown out of proportion. I don't know if it has been the holidays, the climate of our world, little things going wrong, some realization of the passage of time, or some combination of all of the above, but lately I've been sweating the small stuff, much more than usual. Tonight we were talking about goals for 2010 in the car. One goal that should be a priority for me is to work at not letting concerns and negative scenarios flood my mind, and to live life in the moment and enjoy it to the fullest.

But anyway, I'm getting distracted from the weekend.
We headed up 95 with Christmas carols on the radio and the heater on full blast. Upon arriving in Sabattus we were ecstatic. We were starving, both of us only having eaten light meals earlier in the day. My mother had cooked up a pot roast, and my Aunt Gigi had made brownies from scratch. We had Brownies Ala mode with some Giffords Vanilla Ice Cream for desert. We busily spent the night decorating the tree down in the den with a fire roaring in the fire place. My Dad switched back and forth from college football to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (which never gets old). Wyoming was playing in the game and it was a nail biter.

Mom & Dad enjoyed explaining the history behind various Christmas ornaments to Kate as we placed them on the tree. There were the typical memories of past Christmases, cutting down trees, trees that fell over in the night, and sad tales of dropping Christmas ornaments. There were the recollections of the way my grandparents would decorate, and debates over tinsel vs. no tinsel. It was a great night at the end of a long day. I slept really well that evening upstairs on the couch. My mother is old fashioned and doesn't want unmarried Kate & I to sleep together in her house. I try my best to be a good son and humor her wishes, although I miss Kate's company, not to mention that she gets the fold out sofa bed down by the fire ;).

The next morning Dad had bought us some muffins for breakfast and Mom had prepared some coffee. After nourishing ourselves and washing up we headed back downstairs and gathered around the fire. Kate taught my Mom how to play Briscola as I watched, and my Dad lounged in the lazy-boy watching Anthony Bordain's No Reservations on the travel channel.

Before we knew it, 1:00 pm came around, and Kate and I had told my friend Eric Labelle that we'd be meeting him for lunch. He headed next door and had some coffee with Eric and his Mom & Dad. Joe, Eric's Dad showed us pictures of his retreat in the woods, a small rustic cabin which serves as the base for many a hiking or snowshoe expedition. I discussed my recent trips to Europe a bit and there was some brief discussion of various mutual acquaintances. After warming up we headed back out into the cold and decided upon Thai for lunch. We went to Pepper & Spice on Lisbon St. in Lewiston. The prices were great and the food was decent, not to mention that they gave us complimentary soup, and the rice comes with the dishes... which were already less money than what we were used to sans-rice.
After eating we tried getting a hold of another friend Jason Chaloux, however he was busy. We drove Eric back to his parent's house and then said our good byes to my Mom & Dad.

We drove back to Boston, again with the heater on full blast. I had to repeatedly wash the windshield once we got past Portland, as the roads were muddy from the recent snow. When we got to Brookline, Kate made me some hot chocolate and we discussed a short trip we'll be taking to New York City after Christmas, sort of a present to our selves. We'll largely be spending it in museums so we were looking over web sites of various places we might go.

Anyway, tomorrow it is back to work for a short few days, and then hopefully I can have a great Holiday break and keep any worries by the wayside for as long as I possibly can!