Joyeux Noel!

Good morning. It is still morning, at least for 9 more minutes. And Happy Christmas!

It's been a weird weekend/holiday time. I've been sick, with a disgustingly nasty cold. And Liz has been sick as well, with bronchitis, which means we didn't get to do fun sisterly shopping & moviating on Friday. I finished up my shopping as quickly as I could on Friday and then came home and crashed. I went out briefly on Saturday morning to buy some more gift bags, and then wrapped gifts for about 4 hours on Saturday, before spending the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday in bed. This seems like a good place to mention the extremely twisted dreams that Sudafed Nighttime Cold medicine gives me. Bizarre nightmares that include murder of various people, really strange quests (in one dream I was searching for liquor in a Circuit-City type store, and then went to the liquor store to buy the latest season of The Biggest Loser, a show that I've never even watched), various personality twists (I turned into Veronica Mars--I love the show, love the character, but don't want to be her), etc.

But today came, and brought Christmas with it, and Liz came over for the opening of the gifts, and Joe was sweet and Molly was all cute and Mollyful, and it's been a very nice morning. I'm still congested but I'm starting to be able to smell again, and breathe a bit, which is pleasant. Joe's making his famous mashed potatoes, and I've been permitted to taste test every batch. This is significant. He uses three varieties of potato (I did all the peeling--that was my contribution to Christmas dinner) and three varieties of butter (including a French import), and they have a million calories. I only eat them once a year now. So yum!

When Joe asked what I wanted for Christmas, I gave him two or three suggestions. I wanted a jewelry armoire, since my jewelry box wasn't big enough to hold my collection of mostly junk jewelry with the few nice pieces he's given me. I mentioned an iPod nano, since he's been talking about claiming my shuffle. But I was more than happy with my shuffle, so the nano wasn't a huge desire thing. Well, I think that he made it his personal mission to just spoil me rotten this Christmas. I've never had a time that I not only was given everything I could possibly want, but some things that I would never have even imagined wanting. He did get me a jewelry armoire, one far larger and more beautiful than I'd have dreamed of. He got me a lovely necklace and a pair of warped diamond hoop earrings that are so me it's amazing that anyone else thought to make them. He got me the iPod nano. He got me Elizabeth Arden perfume and nailcare stuff from those pushy people at the kiosks in the mall (but it's great stuff, trust me!), and just made me feel like a pampered princess. It's a lovely feeling, but I don't want to get too accustomed to it.

My mother and stepfather sent me a totally delightful gift, one that is so out of character that it just completely blew me away. I totally never lost touch with my inner child, as anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes perusing this blog knows. So I like Archie comic books. I haven't read them in ages, because I think they're ridiculously overpriced. But my sweet Mom went on ebay and bought me a stack of old Archie comics! So I'm going to read them, and then go buy some protective sleeves and keep them stored away. I also collect old Mad magazines (pre "we'll sell out and sell ads"), but it's not safe to give me those as gifts because I have quite a few. I didn't have any Archie comics, and would never have thought of buying them, so it was just a totally delightful gift. I have tried calling to both thank them and wish them a Merry Christmas. I'm guessing that either my mother is still asleep, or my stepfather is feeling extremely cranky, however, because they've taken the phone off the hook.

Well, I need to go curl my hair before we go over to Dad's and the Monster's for dinner. I've been sleeping for the better part of the last two days, and I look like it. I've managed to get myself dressed, but I'm not made up and my hair has been brushed but not styled. I'm not looking pretty yet. I will shortly, though. Once again, happy Christmas to you all!