so this is christmas

My Polish in-laws grew up celebrating Wigilia (the Polish name for Christmas Eve), and, when they moved to this country, were surrounded by locals, for whom the big holiday was Christmas Day. So, in a generous (and, for them, a rare un-American) display of intercultural outreach, the family does both the big, traditional Christmas Eve celebration (with the traditional dinner with many meatless dishes, and the breaking of the opłatek, and the singing of koledy [while the kids grow ever more impatient waiting for the opening of the presents]), AND the big American no-holds-barred eat-anything-you-can feast of Christmas Day. The Wigilia is the territory of my 80-something-year-old mother in law (and sacrosanct territory it is), but my wife has hooked the Christmas Day feed as her donation to the annual family celebrations. So yesterday, we were up by 7:00 to get the turkey in the oven, and did all the setup and serving (that is, the stuff that hadn't been done in the weeks of preparation), and didn't get to stop until the last guest had called for directions when she missed her exit on the way home. That was about 6:00 pm.

(I made gravy. Did I tell you I make dangerous, kickass gravy? I do. I probably contributed to two heart attacks yesterday.)

Now, the family is rolling chaos (as what family is not?), and we heard that some of the folks were going to be late. We had already decided to make this dinner a more-or-less buffet ("We'll have dinner on by 2:00, but you can eat whenever you get here"), and after a bit of rage about their callous lack of attention to our efforts, we remembered that this was precisely the reason we had chosen to do the buffet. We have a friend who makes this kind of entertaining look effortless (my wife says, "She gets it that it's really about getting people together"), so the watchword of the day became, "What would Taylor do?".

Today is recovery day, and I'm shot. I haven't exercised, I'm not quite out of my pajamas (at 11:14 am, when I've been up since about 5:00; people who know me will tell you how unlike me that is), and I'm barely getting around to writing this post.

However, looking over the loot under the Christmas tree, it's time to reflect how good life is. My latest hobby is the bicycles, and there's a bit of bicycle loot (including the Sprintech bar-end mirror, Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, and Tom Hammel's NJ Bike Ride Book). Also, the obligatory winter clothing (scarves, gloves), and some fripperies that we love, but won't buy for ourselves (and, of course, some useless stuff from clueless, but well-meaning donors).

Wife has just gotten back from part-time job; snow is falling (looks like I may get some exercise today anyway), and I'm trying to stay away from the stacks of yummy leftovers in the other room. In an effort to maintain my junk food abstinence, there may be a nap in my near future. (And with some luck, there will be snow enough that the office will close tomorrow!)