The Day After
I hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday (or a great first night of Hannukah). My Christmas turned out to be rather busy, indeed. My brother was on-call all through the night on Christmas Eve into Christmas morning -- by the time he left the hospital at 10:00 AM Sunday he was the proud deliverer of a 3:00 AM Christmas baby and four Christmas Eve babies. After pulling the all-nighter, he met us at my grandmother's retirement home for lunch. The home is located in an old Mary Cassatt mansion. Cassatt is a famous painter who lived in this area of Pennsylvania. Her family has mansions scattered about the Philadelphia suburbs, one of which is our local YMCA and another of which now houses my grandmother. The Christmas lunch was exquisite: beef tenderloin, fried shrimp, twice-baked potatoes, salad, green beans, warm rolls, plus coffee and mudslide ice cream for dessert. I was very sorry that my Mom couldn't be there -- she too was at the hospital working on Christmas morning. Fortunately, Mom was relieved of her duty after half a day's work, and she was home when we returned from lunch.
I was able to watch a few minutes of Eagles football during our brief down time at home. They lost to the lowly Arizona Cardinals in the last game at Sun Devil Stadium. A Cardinals fan -- clearly disappointed in years of lackluster performance from his team -- held a sign reading "Thanks for the memories. Both of them." At least he can joke about disappointment. I, on the other hand, am miserable with this year's injured Eagles and can't wait to start things anew next September.
Our family -- complete this time -- piled into the van and I drove everyone to my grandfather's house. We arrived at 4:00 PM thinking we were a half hour late, but our hosts did not expect us until 5:00. After some verbal sparring as to who was at fault for the miscommunication, we settled in to a lovely Christmas evening. I enjoyed ham (for the second night in a row -- what a treat!), asparagus with ginger sauce, baked potatoes, and flaming cherries jubilee for dessert (courtesy of grandfather's liberal application of Bacardi 151 rum and a kitchen lighter).
Upon leaving grandfather's, the driving Christmas rain had stopped but was replaced by a thick, eerie fog. Driving a van containing my entire family through rain-soaked streets and poor visibility in an unfamiliar neighborhood on Christmas night made me extremely cautious at the wheel! We drove to Sean's house, which is around the corner from grandfather's. Waiting inside the front door for my father was a lazy-boy chair with footrest, wrapped in a giant bow. This gift was the collaboration of my siblings and I, and Dad loved it! However, he only had a few minutes to enjoy it because it was nearing 9:00 PM and we hadn't opened any presents at home yet.
Finally home, we began opening presents at a rather rushed pace in order to compensate for the late hour and Dad's post-operative fatigue. I received a fondue pot, two dress shirts, two ties, several medically-themed books, a "March of the Penguins" paperweight (from my grandmother), a Fandango.com gift certificate, and The Family Guy seasons 1 and 2 DVD. The "best present of the year" award is shared by Jordana's photo calendar given to my parents -- which brought the unwrapping to a hault as everyone admired the pictures for each month -- and a hand-made German cookoo clock given to my brother by Mom and Dad. All in all, it was a fantastic Christmas!
When the family went to bed, I watched Rush Hour 2 on my laptop until post-King Kong Jordana called around 1:15 AM. We had a wonderful chat and I got to bed just after 2:30 AM. What a terrific Christmas!
I was able to watch a few minutes of Eagles football during our brief down time at home. They lost to the lowly Arizona Cardinals in the last game at Sun Devil Stadium. A Cardinals fan -- clearly disappointed in years of lackluster performance from his team -- held a sign reading "Thanks for the memories. Both of them." At least he can joke about disappointment. I, on the other hand, am miserable with this year's injured Eagles and can't wait to start things anew next September.
Our family -- complete this time -- piled into the van and I drove everyone to my grandfather's house. We arrived at 4:00 PM thinking we were a half hour late, but our hosts did not expect us until 5:00. After some verbal sparring as to who was at fault for the miscommunication, we settled in to a lovely Christmas evening. I enjoyed ham (for the second night in a row -- what a treat!), asparagus with ginger sauce, baked potatoes, and flaming cherries jubilee for dessert (courtesy of grandfather's liberal application of Bacardi 151 rum and a kitchen lighter).
Upon leaving grandfather's, the driving Christmas rain had stopped but was replaced by a thick, eerie fog. Driving a van containing my entire family through rain-soaked streets and poor visibility in an unfamiliar neighborhood on Christmas night made me extremely cautious at the wheel! We drove to Sean's house, which is around the corner from grandfather's. Waiting inside the front door for my father was a lazy-boy chair with footrest, wrapped in a giant bow. This gift was the collaboration of my siblings and I, and Dad loved it! However, he only had a few minutes to enjoy it because it was nearing 9:00 PM and we hadn't opened any presents at home yet.
Finally home, we began opening presents at a rather rushed pace in order to compensate for the late hour and Dad's post-operative fatigue. I received a fondue pot, two dress shirts, two ties, several medically-themed books, a "March of the Penguins" paperweight (from my grandmother), a Fandango.com gift certificate, and The Family Guy seasons 1 and 2 DVD. The "best present of the year" award is shared by Jordana's photo calendar given to my parents -- which brought the unwrapping to a hault as everyone admired the pictures for each month -- and a hand-made German cookoo clock given to my brother by Mom and Dad. All in all, it was a fantastic Christmas!
When the family went to bed, I watched Rush Hour 2 on my laptop until post-King Kong Jordana called around 1:15 AM. We had a wonderful chat and I got to bed just after 2:30 AM. What a terrific Christmas!
posted by Yours Truly at 12:42 PM
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