christmas eve eve
Dec. 23rd, 2004 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7So Dave and I made shrimp pan-fried in garlic and butter, and drank the chardonnay Katy and Adam gave us at their wedding (purchased in France during their courtship). After dinner we ate pear-brandy-filled chocolate pears from the local European sausage shop, and each of us got to open one present.
Normally I would never open a Christmas present early. But it's just going to be such an odd year. Dave's mom kindly decided to have us open stocking gifts on Christmas Eve so I can participate, but traditionally they open gifts Christmas morning to early afternoon, and then the gift-wrapping competition is in the evening. I'll miss the gift-opening. So I don't know when I'll open the presents my mother gave me...
So, I gave Dave a stocking gift (a hot-dish mitt I bought him in Cambridge, NY last week when he wasn't paying attention), and opened one of the presents from my mom because I don't know when I'll open those. The one I opened was, by a lucky guess, a lounge outfit Mom bought me at Old Navy while I was there. So of course it fits perfectly. Yoga pants, a t-shirt with a picture of a hot dog on it, and a fleecy sweatshirt with a hood and a kangaroo pocket.
I am so comfy.
So, a little more Christmas spirit. I meant to call my mom tonight. I might call her tomorrow morningish.
I also got all the laundry done, and almost all of the Kringle gift. There's a Phase II in the construction, that I could possibly do without, but that it would be less lame if I did. So we'll see how I am tomorrow. ^.^
And then Dave and I got the clarinets out tonight. I used to play clarinet in high school, and bass clarinet. My parents intended to sell both instruments after I went away to college and stopped playing them, but they never got around to it. Dave's interested in woodwinds, so I asked if I could take them when we were last home. Mom and Dad said sure, so we did. So tonight we put them together and squawked and squeaked. Dave can't get a sound out of the little clarinet, but is surprisingly good at the bass-- mine is a bit leaky and requires an embrochure of steel to get the lower (or high-higher) notes out at all. He used to play saxophone, and the bass clarinet is really just a Bb saxophone with clarinet fingering -- very similar in embrochure and breath control. But he was just overblowing the clarinet like there was no tomorrow.
Both made me awfully dizzy, and it was sad to see how far my breath control has deteriorated, but it wasn't much of a surprise. However, by switching instruments around I have probably just given Dave my cold, and that is really too bad. So, vitamins and sleep and water for both of us! I think my immune system has got lazy during my unemployment, because I never had contact with other humans and so never got sick... Now I'm picking up people's dirty glasses all day long. I bet that Kenmore West basketball coach with laryngitis gave me whatever I've got. I'll yell at him next Tuesday when I see him. If he can talk then. Hell, if I can talk then. As for now, I've still got my voice-- I was caroling while doing the laundry-- but I'm getting hoarse and losing the soprano range, so we'll see how things go. It's an adventure!!!
Normally I would never open a Christmas present early. But it's just going to be such an odd year. Dave's mom kindly decided to have us open stocking gifts on Christmas Eve so I can participate, but traditionally they open gifts Christmas morning to early afternoon, and then the gift-wrapping competition is in the evening. I'll miss the gift-opening. So I don't know when I'll open the presents my mother gave me...
So, I gave Dave a stocking gift (a hot-dish mitt I bought him in Cambridge, NY last week when he wasn't paying attention), and opened one of the presents from my mom because I don't know when I'll open those. The one I opened was, by a lucky guess, a lounge outfit Mom bought me at Old Navy while I was there. So of course it fits perfectly. Yoga pants, a t-shirt with a picture of a hot dog on it, and a fleecy sweatshirt with a hood and a kangaroo pocket.
I am so comfy.
So, a little more Christmas spirit. I meant to call my mom tonight. I might call her tomorrow morningish.
I also got all the laundry done, and almost all of the Kringle gift. There's a Phase II in the construction, that I could possibly do without, but that it would be less lame if I did. So we'll see how I am tomorrow. ^.^
And then Dave and I got the clarinets out tonight. I used to play clarinet in high school, and bass clarinet. My parents intended to sell both instruments after I went away to college and stopped playing them, but they never got around to it. Dave's interested in woodwinds, so I asked if I could take them when we were last home. Mom and Dad said sure, so we did. So tonight we put them together and squawked and squeaked. Dave can't get a sound out of the little clarinet, but is surprisingly good at the bass-- mine is a bit leaky and requires an embrochure of steel to get the lower (or high-higher) notes out at all. He used to play saxophone, and the bass clarinet is really just a Bb saxophone with clarinet fingering -- very similar in embrochure and breath control. But he was just overblowing the clarinet like there was no tomorrow.
Both made me awfully dizzy, and it was sad to see how far my breath control has deteriorated, but it wasn't much of a surprise. However, by switching instruments around I have probably just given Dave my cold, and that is really too bad. So, vitamins and sleep and water for both of us! I think my immune system has got lazy during my unemployment, because I never had contact with other humans and so never got sick... Now I'm picking up people's dirty glasses all day long. I bet that Kenmore West basketball coach with laryngitis gave me whatever I've got. I'll yell at him next Tuesday when I see him. If he can talk then. Hell, if I can talk then. As for now, I've still got my voice-- I was caroling while doing the laundry-- but I'm getting hoarse and losing the soprano range, so we'll see how things go. It's an adventure!!!
