Christmas 2009-
It slipped my mind to write in my blog until now. This Christmas, I think, was one of my favorites. I don't know why except I thought we did a really good job of getting things the kids were genuinely surprised to get. I didn't feel the pressure I often feel about the holiday "to do" list, maybe because some of those things were done by others this year.
There's no problem with going away for the day to shop, since the kids are all old enough to stay alone. There wasn't the pressure to make cookies... Maura made some and delaney and I made some and a few other treats as well. Even now, Steve is dipping pretzels in chocolate almost every night for an extended treat.
I spent the days following Christmas working on a quilt. I finished the piecing and have most of the quilting done. I probably won't make my (self imposed) deadline of having it compleated by tomorrow, but I'll feel good about having all the quilting done and ready to bind by then.
I had to get the grades in and, even though I was waiting for some kids to send work via email, I had to give up and post their grade as is. I needed help remembering how to post them to the grade cards and called up a friend and then another teacher for the help. Luckily, they didn't seem too upset I bothered them with this on their vacation time.
I'm terrible about sending cards out so, another year went by without sending the news we are alive and still kickin. I always feel guilty about that.
So, New Year's Eve is typically spent at the neighbor's down the street. This year, because people were going to be gone, they moved it up a night. It's one time we socialize with the people on our street, and are concidered the young kids of the group. We're a bit out of step with them all, but it's ok. So, that left New Year's eve as a quiet night at home and, truthfully, not a big deal to me to watch the ball drop at 11:00. I read a book and fell asleep much earlier.
Tonight, Delaney really wanted to go meet up with her friend, Josh, and sing kareoke. Steve passed on the evening, so I drove her down Indian Point to a small place that seems to be a hang out for the locals now that the season is over. When I say locals, I mean the Indian point folks.Everyone seemed to know each other and it was very family friendly. Josh and Delaney begged me to sing, but I assured them it wasn't going to happen and they really didn't want to hear me sing either! I truly hated to call the evening short, but it was snowing and I have a fear of getting caught trying to get up one hill on our road. Luckily, the snow wasn't too bad here.