Terrific Christmas

It's Friday, and Mom and Maura just left on Wednesday morning. It really was a perfect Christmas--enough time to ourselves before they came (including a day-long hockey tournament, which is an excellent way to bring in the holiday), a long enough visit without needing to kill either one of them, a happy farewell, and then some time off to ourselves.

Sunday morning, I played handbells in the balcony of our church. It went terrifically. Then there was the rehearsal for the Christmas pageant, which actually went quite well except for G (Mouse #1) getting silly and a bit rough-and-tumbly with Mouse #2. Plus, he read from the script and the director (one of our babysitters) wanted there to be no scripts. Overall, it was fine.

We went home to do some last-minute cleaning and tidying up and got lots done that I had wanted to. I can still see/use my counters on the other side of the kitchen and that makes me so happy! We had expected them at 3 but they called, delayed, and arrived about 6. I started a lentil soup--and then realized I had no smoked sausage to put in. They argued that it would be fine without the sausage (even though it would have taken me just minutes to get it), and it actually was. I put out cheese and crackers (TJs has a Stilton with Apricots that is really nice) and some wine, and they relaxed while I finished the soup. It was perfect--warming everyone up after unloading the car in the chilly air.

The three puppies are darling--big(ger), cheerful, bossy Lola, the pug; seemingly mild-mannered Walter, who can be pushy and vicious when he wants to, clearly the alpha; and unassuming Mr. Bean, who must be coaxed from the crate even when the others are clearly having a ball jumping all over your lap. They are also poop and pee machines; we filled my extra garbage cans with used newspapers in the short 4 days they were here. We walked them, running as they sprinted to give them exercise and finding out that 3.5-mo-old puppies can run faster than I can at my top speed. Their little legs move so fast that I joked that they look like cartoons.

We put them up in my ex-pen in the kitchen, with their crate in a cubby and the ex-pen's doors attached to it. Amazingly, even though they chewed a bit on my (ratty) back-door rug that they managed to pull into the ex-pen a bit, they didn't get into the guinea-pig food at all, even though it was next to their crate and pretty easily accessible. They did enjoy the chew toys we bought them at our local pet supply store, including the radioactive bat chew toy. It was great to get up in the morning, sit down in the ex pen, and be covered in enthusiastic puppies. It wasn't bad waking up to find them gone, though. Quieter, less poop, etc. :)

Wednesday, they left later than they'd planned, which put us late for catching the ferry into SF to meet a friend for lunch. We drove instead, and were pretty much right on time anyway. Had a wonderful lunch at Taylor's Automatic Refresher restaurant, which has amazing sweet potato fries. Then we parted, G and I heading down to Pier 39, where we spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening. We found G a cool t-shirt that changed color in the sun and looked like a black-and-white drawing in the shade (like this). Saw two different people waste their $3 in the Super Claw machine, which is just as disappointing as the original Claw, but more expensive. (The second person *nearly* got a toy--but no dice.) I splurged on a beginner kit of Bare Escentuals makeup, which was as amazing as I've heard--very natural looking IMHO but also pretty amazing improvement in my facial tone. We toyed with the idea of eating dinner there, but decided to head home to warmth and basic pasta dinner. After spending $11 to park at the ferry building (note to self: don't stay more than 2 hours next time--the 3rd hour costs more than the first two!), we were lucky to find street parking 1 block from Pier 39 with no restrictions. I did expect my car to have been towed when we got back, though--it seemed just too good to be true. But it wasn't. We settled in and made our way home, having had a fun day, just the two of us.

Thursday, we had had plans to use G's gift card for Build A Bear Workshops, but then couldn't find his bear for which to buy clothes (didn't have enough for a new animal, and Lord knows he doesn't really need more), and G was no longer all that interested, so we abandoned that plan. Went on a few errands in the afternoon, buying bag feet, clasp, stiffener, and lining material for a cute felted bag I'm making. Also picked up some more fabric for some sock-knitting bags I've designed and made and gifted to one lucky person so far. Found some things at Tuesday Morning, just down the block from the fabric store, a couple of closeout Christmas things at Beverly's, and stocked up on supplies for the guinea pigs at Petco before heading home to another casual evening relaxing.

I'm working today, but it's a pretty casual day at work--not a lot of us here and pretty quiet overall. Nice having a 1-day work week; next week will be blessedly short but not as short as this!