christmas in a nut(cracker)shell...

"... and the wise men came bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and purr."
(copyright: young beatrix, 2008)

in no particular order:

* my sister and i began the day by going to mass this morning. we refuse to go with my father, because he always behaves poorly and completely misses the point of church to begin with, so he goes with mom to one mass and we go to a different one. unfortunately, this meant we did not get the fun, dry, sarcastic priest we enjoy tremendously, because he presided over my parents' mass. trix and i got the old, s-l-o-w, brink-of-mandatory-retirement priest, who left out a few key items (like the opening sign of the cross), lost his place in the service several times and, much to trixie's alarm (because she works with stroke surgeons and is tuned in to these sorts of things), suddenly stopped and went silent altogether for a good five or six seconds. also unintentionally entertaining at the parish today: the only-on-christmas-day mass schedule, which found a few folks wandering in at the wrong time because their usual 10am mass had been moved to 9am; the random cell phone that rang and rang and rang and rang and rang until its moronic owner FINALLY pulled it out and shut it off on ring #9; and the ever-dramatic church singers, for whom i've imagined all sorts of dramatic interpersonal goings-on in their private lives... all of which will totally be fodder for a short film at some point.

* in terms of gifts, all i wanted this year was stuff i could use. i have enough hat-and-scarf sets to last me the rest of my life. (see also: slippers, towels and mittens.) so i asked that my gifts please be completely unglamourous, non-exciting, fully useful items. like a box of swiffer duster refills. or a roll of non-stick aluminum foil. or subway tokens. things i need and can use and won't have to go out and buy for myself. AND THAT'S WHAT I GOT. (along with other similarly themed stuff.) i was thrilled. seriously!

* christmas dinner -- which was actually a very-late lunch at 2:30pm -- was roasted turkey breast (laden with a wide variety of herbs and spices), baked sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, corn, stuffing, egg-and-onion rice and cranberry jelly (or sauce, depending on one's preference). it was good. and filling. the cookies are simply left out all the time at this time of year, so they were grazed upon throughout the day.

* we did nothing after that. but we did watch Yours, Mine and Ours (the stinky remake with dennis quaid and rene russo) because we were that desperate for entertainment by 7pm and it was on TV. sad but true.

* and now, at 11:20pm, everyone here has gone to bed, and it's just kyle and me still up. which is fitting, since he's the poster boy for this entry.

* merry christmas to all of you, and to all of you... g'night!