For the sake of posterity

Today I had to come back to work. I had only enough vacation time left to nab two days off this week, but I'm not complaining. A simple review of our vacation photos from earlier in the year reminded me that it was well worth it. One day won't kill me, will it?

I also noticed that I hadn't provided much a rundown of the past few days. And as much as I know you may not be interested, I wanted to record a bit of it, just so when the holidays roll around next year, I'll wish I knew what I didn in 2007. I'm not sure why, it's water under the bridge, but for the sake of journaling, here's a synopsis.

Our holiday break began on Friday with dinner and relaxing as we had to get up early to drive to Louisville the next morning for the reception (see earlier post), a visit with college friends, some shopping, dinner downtown, a night at the Seelbach and a scrumptuous early morning breakfast. On Sunday we reluctantly drove home, unpacked and headed over to my folks' house for dinner with my brothers and their families (all of which were in from Asheville.) It's not often that all three of us are in the same place. And seeing the little ones is always a blessing.

On Monday morning, per our tradition at Chez Ragged, we had our own little Christmas. We stomped down the stairs, pretending that Santa had visited, opened gifts with glee and squeals, took silly photographs and enjoyed the peace and quiet of a holiday with just the two of us. It was still early, so we decided to pad around the house in our pajamas, admire our gifts and watch "The Family Stone" before running a few last minute errands and buffeting at the Chinese restaurant (as per tradition as well). That evening we met up with my family for a church service. Our church sanctuary was severely damaged in the tornado last October, so the annual Christmas Eve candlelight service was moved to a smaller room, where we sat shoulder-to-shoulder, but still felt blessed in the end.

Afterward we joined my family for some games and pizza; Cynical and I excused ourselves in the interest of getting some sleep before the early morning pressing upon us.

On Christmas day, we rose early and headed to my folks' house yet again for the "opening of the gifts". We have a tradition of doing it one at a time, which might annoy most, but delights me. I like seeing everyone's reactions. We left there to meet up with Cynical's family, which is about a 45-minute drive. On the way there we learned that his grandmother had fallen and was injured. We met everyone and checked on her before they took her to the hospital. (She's fine, although she needed stitches and is apparently sore and bruised. Poor thing, she is so frail already.)

Cynical's mother spent most of the day at the hospital with her mother, so we managed to put together the annual meal on our own, hoping she could join us eventually. A little scrambling in the kitchen and a little improvising later, and it was all on the table. Luckly Momma Cynical managed to join us later in the day and we opened gifts with them. While we waited, we cracked open nuts, watched as Little M, our niece, placed nuts into cars and drove the around the room and had a chance to fellowship with one another.

After a stop to visit Mamaw Cynical one last time to check on her, we rejoined my family for dinner with the extended Raggeds. Many of our family live in Louisville, but a few came down to join us for Christmas Day. After more gift exchanging and a round of Apples to Apples, we went home, the trunk dragging with far too much Christmas loot. I had big plans to write that evening, recalling all of the jokes, the reactions, the special moments with our families, but instead, I crawled into bed and was soon fast asleep. I never get to spend this kind of time with my family around the holidays, seems we are all scattered and busy, so it was a blessing to get to stop by the homestead multiple times and see them all.

On Wednesday, Scribe M (who lives in Chicago) came to the house and we did a little post-holiday shopping, picking up a few bargains for next year. (I don't have the space for stocking up on things such as this, but did manage to get a few small items that might be useful between now and 2008's version of the holiday.) We had lunch out, managed to spend some quality time together and it was good for the two of us to scamper around town and catch up.

Cynical and I nabbed dinner at nice restaurant downtown, choosing a window seat and catching up with one another before joining my brother, sister-in-law and nephew for some combat ice skating.

Yesterday (Thursday) was my one "down day", where I declared that I would not don "real clothing" until I was due to meet friends that evening. I had arranged a little coffee visit with two friends (one who lives in California, the other who lives in Colorado) that hadn't seen each other in years. We sat at the bookstore for over 3 hours and caught-up. It was wonderful to be in the same place with them both. . . something that literally hasn't happened for me since high school. . . and that was a very, very long time ago. To hear about their lives, who they have become and where they are going was incredible. What a blessing!

My Colorado friend, Queen of Cool and I are meeting for dinner tonight, one last chance to see Colorado before she heads back after the New Year. And of course there will be more catching up, more laughing and of course more food.

Update: Dear Queen of Cool invited us all back to her house for a little Jason Bourne action and some gift exchanging. On Saturday we went to Princess M's party, complete with the cutest 3-year-old birthday girl ever, cake and ice cream. We spent our evening at home, catching up on another DVD of the HBO-series "Big Love" and knitting.

That's what I like most about the holidays. . . they way they linger.