I'll make this quick. Christmas is a complicated thing. We like it in our house. But I don't necessarily like the production that goes into it. And here we are, four days out, and only two days into Christmas vacation, and I have no master plan, no clean house, and no real energy to make Christmas happen. And somehow, that has to be all right. It's kind of okay for me, but I'm a little worried about the rest of the family. Okay, a lot worried. I mean, they're big kids now and all, but somewhere deep down, I'm sure they're all expecting Christmas Magic that I don't have. I've been using up all my energy to teach Latin lately when, trust me, I'd rather be scrubbing toilets and baking.
Daniel came home from college, arriving late Wednesday evening. It's great to have him back. Peter had his training weekend for the National Guard last week and reportedly spent a lot of time standing at attention. Tertia's class went to see the Nutcracker and she really enjoyed it this evening when we watched "Elf" as a family. Quarta had her first official orthodontist appointment to put expanders in and then, Tuesday, gets the full treatment for braces, just in time for Christmas. It will be interesting... she does not suffer in silence, unlike Tertia, who if you remember, had a cavernous mouth wound caused by her braces for a week without uttering a word of complaint when we were on vacation last summer.
Steve and I had a date last night, went to the Petra House Jordanian restaurant, and did a modest amount of Christmas shopping. I'm planning on cooking the second turkey of the year tomorrow for after church. Kind of a late Thanksgiving dinner for Daniel, and of course, the rest of us like turkey too. Then next week, a little more shopping and cooking will get done, but I'm not sure about the baking. I seem to be falling short on the baking and cleaning lately.
I have been trying to get in a little sewing time every day on the mystery quilt; not so much because I plan to get it finished or anything, but because working with my hands helps me stay more cheerful during the stressful Christmas season. Surely I'm not the only one.
Also, I wrapped up a fun game of Civilization 4 Caveman to Cosmos today; I played at an easy level on the fastest settings and smallest map possible on that mod, and with a random start I ended up as the Canadians. The units said "eh" a lot. I conquered the four other civs on my home continent: the Danish, Indians, Slovaks and Phoenicians, and then I had the game well in hand and put myself on the fastest track to navigation so I could sail over to the other continent and fight with the Manchurians. Romans were also in the game but they weren't much of a power. I decided to quit in 795 B.C. after discovering chemistry, since there wasn't really anything left to prove. There's something profoundly satisfying about laying waste entire civilizations and controlling 92% of the world, even if it is a fictitious world. This is why I will never run for public office. The temptation to do something dastardly to, say, North Korea would be too great.
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