12.25.2004
holidays
It's Christmas! Nothing like a Federal Holiday to take your mind off of what needs to be done. It was shaping up to be a white Christmas here in Lincoln - good snowfall plus decent cold had it all but locked up. And then, it all started to go, as the English say, pear-shaped. Rain washed away a lot of the snow, the warmer weather and sun dried it all out, and I swear, our back lawn is still showing signs of green. That said, it's a marvelous Christmas morning, filled with coffee and pastries and absolutely nothing. And the loot? Oh yes, the loot was good.
As I said before, I'm more proud of the gifts I've given this year than I have been in a very long time. I am particularly amused by my abilities to get it all done well before (OK, two days before) Christmas day - practically a record for me. To give you a sense of how bad I usually am at getting stuff done on time, I'm the one who was at the P. school at 6:30 am on the morning that grades were due when Señor V. came in and said, "you're here early." I replied that I certainly was, and he remarked that the shirt I was wearing looked awfully familiar. "Indeed," I replied, and shortly thereafter drove home to take a shower and then to drive back to work in time for morning classes. So two whole days? That's massive.
But enough about me: check ou what I got. :)
A sweater, two CD (one from Lincoln College, Oxford, and one from Trinity College, Cambridge), a USB memory stick, Endnote (yay academic software), Red Sox stuff, and the West Wing season 3 on DVD. Also food, scented candles, and shirts. Very travel-friendly, which is key.
I gave my brother Andrew Giant Microbes, Matthew got a Florence Foster Jenkins CD, and Dad got the Pessimist's Mug, to name a few things. The real coup was stuff for Mom who, with the rest of the family, came to visit Oxford at Thanksgiving last month. She's always had a thing for Christmas tree ornaments, and had searched far and wide for an Oxford one. I found one on my last day there, but didn't feel OK carrying it back to the US. So I had a friend mail it to me, and it arrived in time. She was thrilled. Also, having grown up in Hong Kong, Mom grew up with the Anglican carol tunes during the holidays. And in the US, the tunes are changed - some subtly, others not so much. So when she went to the Advent Carols Service at Keble College, she heard some of the tunes from her youth, and many of them came back to her. We found the Oxford Book of Carols, and I managed to buy a copy for her. The look on her face when playing through the carols from her youth was priceless - I wonder if anything from my childhood would evoke such strong memories in a few decades. Perhaps my old Nassoons CDs from Princeton? Doubtful. Visiting my old high school? Very doubtful.
I do wonder - we form emotional connections with the strangest things... The Body Shop's sun-ripened raspberry lotion reminds me of one of my best friends from Tanglewood more than ten years ago. It still does.
Oh, and before I sign off, Crystal Palace doesn't have a chance in the world.
Merry Christmas, all. To those around the world, my friends in England, old classmates in Asia, and everyone I know in New Jersey and around the US - may you have a safe and happy holiday, a blessed Christmas, and a wonderful New Year. And to my bestest friend in the whole wide world, meow. :)
As I said before, I'm more proud of the gifts I've given this year than I have been in a very long time. I am particularly amused by my abilities to get it all done well before (OK, two days before) Christmas day - practically a record for me. To give you a sense of how bad I usually am at getting stuff done on time, I'm the one who was at the P. school at 6:30 am on the morning that grades were due when Señor V. came in and said, "you're here early." I replied that I certainly was, and he remarked that the shirt I was wearing looked awfully familiar. "Indeed," I replied, and shortly thereafter drove home to take a shower and then to drive back to work in time for morning classes. So two whole days? That's massive.
But enough about me: check ou what I got. :)
A sweater, two CD (one from Lincoln College, Oxford, and one from Trinity College, Cambridge), a USB memory stick, Endnote (yay academic software), Red Sox stuff, and the West Wing season 3 on DVD. Also food, scented candles, and shirts. Very travel-friendly, which is key.
I gave my brother Andrew Giant Microbes, Matthew got a Florence Foster Jenkins CD, and Dad got the Pessimist's Mug, to name a few things. The real coup was stuff for Mom who, with the rest of the family, came to visit Oxford at Thanksgiving last month. She's always had a thing for Christmas tree ornaments, and had searched far and wide for an Oxford one. I found one on my last day there, but didn't feel OK carrying it back to the US. So I had a friend mail it to me, and it arrived in time. She was thrilled. Also, having grown up in Hong Kong, Mom grew up with the Anglican carol tunes during the holidays. And in the US, the tunes are changed - some subtly, others not so much. So when she went to the Advent Carols Service at Keble College, she heard some of the tunes from her youth, and many of them came back to her. We found the Oxford Book of Carols, and I managed to buy a copy for her. The look on her face when playing through the carols from her youth was priceless - I wonder if anything from my childhood would evoke such strong memories in a few decades. Perhaps my old Nassoons CDs from Princeton? Doubtful. Visiting my old high school? Very doubtful.
I do wonder - we form emotional connections with the strangest things... The Body Shop's sun-ripened raspberry lotion reminds me of one of my best friends from Tanglewood more than ten years ago. It still does.
Oh, and before I sign off, Crystal Palace doesn't have a chance in the world.
Merry Christmas, all. To those around the world, my friends in England, old classmates in Asia, and everyone I know in New Jersey and around the US - may you have a safe and happy holiday, a blessed Christmas, and a wonderful New Year. And to my bestest friend in the whole wide world, meow. :)
