Christmas / New Year 2008

Christmas & New Year

Hello & how are all of you doing? It’s New Years Eve as I type & it’s very cold out today but very sunny too…the weather has been very strange & we’ve seen it all from freezingfreezingfreezing through Tornado’s, lovely & warm, well into the 60’s & back to cold again, but more on the weather later!

Well its official…I’ve turned into my Mother! How do I know? Well in the days leading up to Christmas I was cleaning & there were things that had to get done much to the girl’s dismay when they realised it involved them! Now these things were of vital importance…all the household chores had to be done & everything had to be clean & tidy by Christmas Eve, nothing was going to stop me, no one was going to get in my way & everyone around had to help! The girls groaned when I informed them of my plans (I was actually enjoying it all!) & of the mission that we were about to embark on…the wondrous joy (not!) on their little faces took me hurtling back to my childhood & I remember being made to help with the cleaning, while my mum ran round like a whirling dervish full of the joys of her own pre-Christmas madness…. We don’t really enjoy it but we do it, well I do, torturing myself if I don’t get all those jobs ticked off the list in time!! So there you have it..it happens to all of us, well us girls at some point…the realisation when you do something or say something & it takes you back, hurtling way back when & you know, you just know & have to accept the inevitability of it…we all turn into our Mothers eventually!! Love you Mum! (**,)

Back to the weather…it got so cold just before Christmas we were convinced we might get a ‘white one’ but it wasn’t to be, it was actually pretty mild on the day but what followed was very odd…all of a sudden the weather warmed up & thunderstorms were forecast…outside the door we have a big concrete step that’s pretty much undercover & it was wet for the first time since we’ve been here. It had been drizzling & we assumed it was the rain but the step & the concrete sidewalk(!) were wet & weren’t drying off which is unusual. It was bizarrely warm that evening & we had the heating off & the windows open & there was this odd warm wind blowing & you just knew something was going to happen! We later found out that the concrete sweats here(!!!) after its been cold & then you have a warm spell it sweats…eeeeeooooo! Then came the tornado warnings…all of a sudden the TV/Radio stop & beep at you really loud & then they tell there’s a warning & for what area & for what times it’s going to last etc etc…all very efficient & all very exciting because even though we did have a major downpour the tornado warnings were for the next state over & not close enough for it to be too scary!

Yesterday we went ‘over the river’ again but this time to pick up one of the cars finally & at last, good grief we’ve only been waiting almost 4 months! We’ve ordered two & if you’ve been with us the whole way through our journey so far you’ll know all about the car palaver! The two we’ve ordered we’re going to ‘share’ but the one we’ve picked up is ‘mine’ & it’s a beautiful shiny black baby SUV or to be more precise a VW Tiguan…the other one that is at a port somewhere but is actually in the US as far as we’re aware, is a beautiful shiny black saloon or to be more precise a VW Passat, not the hugest of American beasties but still black & we are European afterall! So that’s one down & one to go! Anyway I digress… it was sooooo warm yesterday & we didn’t even need coats & had a lovely walk by the river!

So now Christmas is over, how was it? It was good, uneventful but good! We let the girls stay in their PJ’s all day & that’s a first for them & they loved it. As we knew no one was coming by & we weren’t going out we figured it was ok! There are certain traditions or things you just do at different times of the year & when you actually think about them you don’t know how or why the traditions come about but staying in PJ’s is NOT one of ours but we felt it was ok to let things slide a bit this time seeing as we were stateside & things were all a bit different! We had pork for lunch…we’re not that keen on turkey just in case you were thinking we didn’t have a ‘bird’ because of the fun we had with our previous ‘no breasted’ chicken! Christmas Dinner was yummy…thanks to Mr Blackler, although I did help with the laying of the table & with the ‘Christmas Spirit’! It’s funny the things you miss…I missed crackers (the pulling kind, not the edible type!) who would have thought it!? I hate those paper hats that you get inside but the table looked weird without them & they don’t seem to do them over here & can you imagine asking for them? Excuse me do you do crackers? You know those paper things you pull & that explode at the table?! Move aside please…security, there’s a strange foreigner at the till asking for explosives! NEXT!

The worst thing that happened? Our cable company cut off our internet, email & voicemail just in time for Christmas Day!! There was supposed to be a simple name change on our account but they cut us off instead!! We’d planned to open our pressies via Skype & do the ‘Christmas’ thing with everyone & I could have cried when we realised it wasn’t working….. Frustrating would be a huge understatement of the most colossal kind!! But after a lot of inner expletivations (I know it’s not a proper word but it looks good!) we got on with the rest of the day & I hope you had a lovely one too! I won’t bore you with the story about trying to get it all sorted out as I’m sure you can imagine it but there have been many phone calls & many minutes waiting sometimes patiently & sometimes not so patiently in those ‘press 1 for blah, press 2 for blah blah & so on until you get too, press 73 for blah blah blah’ queues!!! Hopefully by the time you read this we will be back online properly once & for all!

This week I’m loving… the sunshine & my Cadburys crème eggs sent over by my Mommy! Sorry couldn’t resist…I mean Mummy!

This week I’m not loving… being fobbed off American Style by the cable company!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!