Early Christmas

Sister Kittie and brother-in-law David came down this weekend to help me not celebrate Christmas.

Christmas tree with
Mickey ornaments

As you know, I decided not to do the holidays this year, but I soon realized I just didn't want to do all of it. I had found a collapsible Mylar tree at Walgreen's.

They arrived late Friday evening, unloading themselves into the house. We talked and caught up on family and what we each were up to this December.

Mickey ornaments on the tree

On Saturday, we wrapped the presents Kittie had brought with her. I really enjoyed wrapping packages, especially when I didn't have to go out into the mercantile fray in order to obtain them. And, while digging out the wrapping paper, I came across the set of 12 Mickey ornaments Steve and I had bought several years back at Disneyland. I got them out and put them on the Mylar Christmas tree, and they looked pretty good.

For dinner, I had Kittie show me how to bake chicken breasts (I had six in the freezer and didn't want them to go bad). So we had chicken and rice for dinner and I cut up the remaining chicken to store in the freezer. That way, I've got cooked chicken I can thaw out in a day: Makes cooking for one much easier.

While Kittie and I were working, David was overdosing on cable television. (They do not have cable because David says he would spend every day like this if they had it.) It was football and car races and other guy stuff, and it lent a wonderful background sound to our putterings. After dinner, Kittie got my Joy of Cooking down from the shelf and we searched for a sugar cookie recipe.

A fancy and festive fritata for brunch.

I could not believe that Kittie had never made rolled cookies (although I've attempted them only a couple times). So Kittie mixed the dough and put it in the refrigerator to set. We hit the hay around midnight.

The next morning, I got up to David making coffee and Kittie still laying in bed. (The sofa downstairs accommodates two rather nicely, if you know how to position yourselves.) We emptied the dishwasher, which had filled quickly with dinner and chicken cooking and cookie making, loaded the awaiting overflow of dishes, and I made an asparagus-ham fritata with cheddar and mozzarella.

Christmas cookies await their icing

Clean the kitchen again (it's a pretty small space), then I took down the Christmas cookie cutters that I had gotten years ago and never used, and we picked out the shapes we wanted. (I won't elaborate on them, as you can see them in the accompanying cookie photos.)

David was wanting to fix the carpeting at the top of the stairs down to the garage. When they installed the slate in the entryway, they didn't finish off the carpet edge where the carpet meets the slate at the top stair. I had nailed it up, but David was right; it was a tripping hazard. So, in the only sojourn beyond my grocery shopping last week, we headed to OSH, where we got a metal transition plate to affix the carpet against the top of the stair.

Upon returning, Kittie had rolled out the remainder of the dough and was just finishing up baking the last batch. Even unfrosted, the cookies look festive.

Our final cookie creations on the holiday plate

Later, I made up some buttercream frosting and hauled out my decorative piping tools. The nibs and the points were in fine shape, but the piping bag had fallen apart, so we improvised with some plastic Zip-Loc bags, cutting a small hole in the bottom corner to house the nibs. It worked fairly well, though the bags did start deforming slightly as we squeezed them. I was adding some icing to the remaining cookies that evening, and the bag burst right through; wrapping a little plastic wrap around it kept the breach of icing in check, but actual, honest-to-God piping bags is what I really need.

The cookies looked nicer than ever once we got them iced: I put a red design down on the cookie, leaving room for Kittie to come in behind me and add green to the design I had started. The system worked out really well, as you can see from the photo of the finished cookies.

We got done with the icing while David was packing the car. They took a bunch of the cookies with them, as I did not want two dozens sugar cookies staring at me from the Christmas cookie platter (something I also discovered while we were digging for the wrapping paper in the closet). About 4 o'clock, they left to return home. I was alone again for the evening, trolling and schedule guide on the cable for Christmas fare worth recording. Believe me, there isn't much out there, except syrupy, poorly acted, quickly produced tear-jerk stories on the Hallmark channel.

So, here it is, Christmas Eve day. The tradition in my family, once all the kids were old enough to know Santa didn't really bring the presents, was to open gifts on Christmas Eve while enjoying a casual buffet meal (sandwiches and clam chowder, usually). The whole point is no one was obligated to leap out of bed at 5:30 when the first child awoke and saw the presents under the tree.

Steve and I continued that tradition, leaving the stockings as the Christmas morning surprise. I think I'm going to continue on my own. So this evening at 7:30 I'll open the present Kittie and David left for me. As for tomorrow, the stockings are packed away, so I'll just have to wing it, which is what you do when you're not celebrating Christmas.

In closing, here's another one of my favorite Christmas cartoons as a child. It's about a crazy old man who used to hang out with Betty Boop, but now goes from orphanage to orphanage, frightening the children into happiness and joy. Don't laugh: that's how Christmas goes down in a lot of families.

 

Visual Treats

You are aware that I'm not doing the holidays this year, but this is one of my very favorite Christmas things on YouTube:

Flashy tree, mercantile goodness

Life is strange. I mean really strange.

Last week I was recuperating from the directory deadline and jumping back into Lisa' web design, all the time worrying about where the money was coming from. Yesterday (Sunday) was an actual day off. Joy sent over the materials for her newsletter, but I didn't even look at them until today. When I did, everything fell together and I whipped through most of the website work in less than two hours.

After working on Joy's newsletter this morning, I took a break and finally dove into the upstairs closets, clearing out the last of Steve's clothes in preparation for the Rescue Mission pick-up on Wednesday (8 a.m. to 5 p.m., so I'm prisoner until they show up). Reviewing my handiwork, I've never seen so many empty hangers in my life, plastic bird skeletons swinging under empty weight. Afterwards, I found out where to go get my documents notarized (that's for tomorrow).

Full of L-Tryptophane goodness!

As I said, I'm not doing the holidays, but the "tree" pictured above was staring at me through Walgreen's window, and it was only $20, so I picked it up. I set it up in the hall. Having had the call of the muse to write something here, I went downstairs to take this picture of it. Its proportions are compelling to me, but I do have to confess that it feels like Macy's has taken over the entryway: You know, shiny glitter, a hint at the actual shape and sensibility of a real tree, but minimalized, stripped of all but the most fundamental of essences. One thing I can tell you, there's no Baby Jesus in that tree. I also think the fact that the silver discs are just the size of quarters doesn't help make it less commercial.

Dave's coffee mug collection
adorns wall and ceiling of the kitchen

When I came upstairs to download the photo, I realized there were others, photos I had taken at Thanksgiving, that were still sitting, unprocessed, on the iPhone. So I downloaded the group and came up with these images.

The first one is the turkey. The second one is David about to carve at the table. Kittie did all of the cooking, and there was a lot of stuff, but the turkey is always the centerpiece, and she did a good job. You'll notice the little pop-up thing didn't pop up. She asked how she could tell if it was cooked, and I told her about sampling the temperature in the thigh, the breast and the stuffing: 180 degrees Fahrenheit. It was perfectly done.

This way to the butterflies.

I stayed at Motel 6, since their place is really too small to accommodate guests (although there is just enough space on the living room floor to fit a sleeping bag). I prefer to have my own room, my own bath and the civility of complimentary WiFi.

I drove up Thursday, starting around 10:30 a.m. and arriving (surprisingly) before 3 p.m. There was almost no traffic (not quite as true on the ride back, though). When I arrived, everything was pretty much cooked, and we ate shortly after my arrival.

On Friday, we took a walk down at the beach, walking along the boardwalk from he entrance to the beach (the only one in California which allows vehicles) about a mile to the Butterfly Grove, so named because it's a stopover for migrating Monarch butterflies. Here's a picture of Kittie and David on the bridge to the grove. I tried to get some shots of the Monarchs, but they were high up in the tree and the late afternoon lighting was bad.

No one drives on this part of the beach or the dunes:
it's a wildlife sanctuary. See why I love it there?

We left at the hour we did so that we could watch the sunset while strolling the boardwalk back to the car. Looking at this photo doesn't do the beauty justice. Is it any wonder that I call this place home? And is it any wonder that I am seriously considering a move back to my roots there?

Saturday morning we drove into San Luis Obispo and had breakfast at Louisa's downtown. I had the eggs benedict, since I believe you can tell the quality of the breakfast service anywhere by how they do eggs benedict. They are very good at Louisa's; always have been.

When I was clearing out the closets and packing up the rest of Steve's clothes, I listened to a special Christmas mix that I made several years ago; something to play during opening presents and such.

But, as I said, I'm not doing the holidays this year.



Oh yeah; one thing I forgot to tell you: I got an e-mail this morning from a woman who had seen Lisa's website redesign and wanted to talk to me about redoing her site, as well. And then a guy left his phone number on the machine this afternoon, also requesting a redesign. If they both pan out, this means that I have no less than three projects that are ready to roll at the first of the year.

Depends on Where You're Standing

Only moments ago, I launched my poet's website. I am really jazzed by the 3-D effect of the slide show on the first page. I'm really happy with the work. We had done a lot of preliminary design samples and wireframes, but the actual construction of the site happened between Wednesday and today (Saturday).

After the workfest of getting the chamber directory to the printers, I had Tuesday to take a breather, then I jumped in on the website. I haven't been burning on it with quite the intensity of the directory work, and it is a lot more fun to work on a creative project (photos and poetry) where the client really appreciates the creative process.

Now another client is doing a newsletter (and hers are long) that she's sending over tomorrow. She wants it out on the 21st, and that will be no problem at all. Her work is a little more involved, since I have to move the copy from the last newsletter into her articles page (which keeps getting longer), then mount the newsletter on the website, then build a truncated version of it as an HTML e-mail to send out via Mail Chimp.

And then, I have nothing due until the end of the year. This is a good thing, since I can now spend some time focusing on finishing up the transfer of Steve Stuff to me. There are things to get notarized, official certificates to order, transfer forms to return, etc., etc. I still experience a significant amount of emotional drainage when I have to put my mind to death paperwork.

I've foregone the holidays this year, other than visiting Kittie and David on Thanksgiving. To me, these last two weeks of the year are a time to try and regroup and greet the new year with some semblance of cohesion. After all, I told Ray that we'd get together after the first of the year to discuss expanding his website, so there might be more work for me there.

So I feel like I've passed two large objects out of my being and can take a breather. I can even sleep in and not wake up worrying about all the stuff I have to get done today. It's been cold the last few days (for readers in the Midwest and East, this means it doesn't get out of the 50s during the day, and at night we actually get into the 30s), but there's a warming trend starting tomorrow.

Taking care of the house is also something I've neglected for the past few weeks. So is cleaning out Steve's stuff, and the Rescue Mission is sending a truck on Wednesday to pick it up. This means the garage should be cleared out in time for Kittie and David to park there during their visit a week from today. (In Pasadena, it's illegal to park on the street between 2 and 6 a.m. without buying a special $7-a-day permit.)

I'm sure there are duties and obligations I'm shirking that will raise their ugly heads every few days, as I'm still not into a solitary routine yet. When you spend years coordinating your life with another person, it's alien not to have to share everything life and savor that.

Down to the Wire

(A Note: This was written on Monday, December 2nd, but I didn't publish it until today because of the deadlines I've been dealing with.)

My life since I returned home on Saturday, having spent Thanksgiving at my sister Kittie's, has been focused almost entirely on the chamber directory. With less than a week to go, I think we're going to make it with a little time to spare (wouldn't that be wonderful?).

I went over some of my postmortem paperwork with Kittie, just to make sure I was reading it right. Steve is the one I've always taken stuff like that to, but he's not available.

Mourning is such a weird process, and I find I begin to identify stages I've been going through over the past weeks. Like a roller coaster through thin gelatin, I am beginning to sense upward motion in my life, as well as downward. Every now and then, I don't feel weighed down hardly at all by things; I realize how much I enjoy my work, a cool autumn day with a real breeze, a good single-malt scotch. Eventually, things are going to be okay.

But my intense focus is on the directory. I think it's going to look terrific when it hits paper. Now that I've turned the job of shagging stray ads and copy over to the salesman, I can concentrate on the little tweaks that I'll have to make in the 52 pages of directory listings in the back of the book. The first 36 pages of editorial and advertising are pretty well ready to hit the press, except for about a dozen small, missing elements and final placement of photos.

Our press deadline is Monday, Dec. 9. After that, it's out of my hair, for a year, at least, or perhaps for forever. I'm only now beginning to sense what I want to do with the rest of my life: I want to spend it with friends doing things I love to do.

One thing I really hate is running my own business. It was tolerable when Steve was here to take care of the books (meager as they are), and I could concentrate on landing clients and doing the design work. I thought that's how it was going to go until I retired, keeping a couple special clients even in my leisure years. This, my second year in business, was when I would make a clear mark in the Pasadena business community. Instead, death took the year, from March halfway through October, and my focus and energy, as well.

My clients have been incredible, concerned and patient (but still letting me know they wanted to get things going as soon as possible). Less than six days from now, I will breathe a sigh of relief, then jump into setting up Poet Lisa's website, hoping to get her online by the 14th. Then Joy has a newsletter for the holidays that she wants to send out by the 22nd. Ray wants to expand his website, as well, but we agreed to wait until the holidays are over.

So here I am in one of those upward-gelatin moments, feeling good that the business will be coming in for the next few months, at least. Then I hope I hit a dry spell, because I'd like to take some time off and do a little traveling, see some people I haven't seen in a long time. By the time that happens, I think I'll be able to take advantage of the unfamiliar locales to balance my view of this new phase in my life.

I have a few ideas brewing already. More on that later.