Holiday Recap, or "What I didn't Learn on my Winter Vacation"


Wherein our Heroine Gives a Semi-Random Update.
Hello all. Yes, I am back. No, nothing Earth-shattering occurred during my absence. Our Hero (a/k/a John Smith, International Terrorist, and now that we've watched part of the Twilight Zone New Year's Day marathon, "his satanic majesty, Lucifer, prince of darkness - otherwise known as Mr. Smith") and I relaxed some, though I am not sure John knows how to relax. He spent much of the holiday painting and rearranging his office, then decided to take apart part of the basement shelves and attendant clobber yesterday. I am married to the proverbial worker-bee. Whatever - I did relaxing for both of us, as well as bread-making, dog-walking, and fire-building. Also lots of knitting.

Working backwards through the break, New Year's day dawned with a lovely sunrise.


That morning, we also went to something we may never have the privilege to witness again - a Hindu housewarming ceremony. I am not terribly articulate about this, because "Wow" seems the most appropriate word. The preparations were elaborate, the guests multitudinous, and the colors (including saris and flowers) were dazzling. The ceremony itself was about 2 1/2 hours - short, apparently, by knowledgeable people's standards. As it was conducted in Sanskrit or Hindi, we were grateful to various relatives and friends of Alicia's who murmured explanations and translations to us throughout. Aside from Alicia's husband Guillermo, we were the only non-Indians there, so it must have been terribly obvious that we needed the assistance.

Christmas was almost as quiet as New Year's, although my mother sent catnip mice that sent Simon and Dash into frenzies of delight:



For Christmas dinner, we had the aforementioned Alicia and Guillermo, as well as our neighbors, Philip and Kathie. Since Alicia is Hindu and Philip and Kathie are Buddhist, we decided we were having "ChrisBudGaneshamas" dinner. It was our first Christmas at home, and we loved it.

Happy New Year.
Posted: Monday - January 03, 2005 at 07:48 AM         | |

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