December 4, 2002

We don't need no stinkin' pipers.
A December WordGoddess contribution

12 Days of Christmas

1. Going with the obvious first, Calvin. Without him, there would be no Christmas. Every day of my life, I'm grateful that I'm with him. It's like having a perpetual slumber party with my best friend.
   
   
2. Marie. She's my step-daughter, but more importantly, she's my friend. The hours-long conversations we have are to be cherished (but never, ever transcribed again). Plus, she's really cool and fashionable. I should try to dress more like her. Heh.
   
   
3. Michael. I'm charmed with the idea that there's this nineteen (almost twenty! Yeesh!) year old kid that thinks of me as his mom. He calls just to say "hi." I can't wait for him to get home!
   
   
4. Heather. How neat to all of a sudden discover that a person is becoming one of your best friends! What wonderful things happen when you're not looking.
   
   
5. AB. How neat to all of a sudden look up and realize that she's been one of my best friends for almost five years! The Super Bowl is what we consider our "anniversary".
   
   
6. Dawn. She's awesome. She's the first friend I made through my journal. She proved that meeting folks through the Internet doesn't have to be a freaky experience, but it's better when it is.
   
   
7. My friend Dani. She literally drags me away from work (and vice-versa) so we can go out to lunch and chill the freak out. I think there are multiple times where either she or I would have suffered a meltdown if it weren't for those lunchtime conversations.
   
   
8. My sister, Susan. I never knew her while I was growing up, and now I discover that I have all this stuff in common with her. Our laugh, our sick sense of humor, the strange parallels in our lives (She married someone older than her, I married someone older than me. She has a step-son and a step-daughter, I have a step-son and a step-daughter. Her step-son is in the Marines, my step-son is in the Marines.).
   
   
9. Archibael. He's a very good friend, but mainly because he's the only other Buffy, Angel, and Firefly fan that I know "in real life". Heh.
   
   
10. Calvin's grandparents. They're considered one because they're always joined at the hip. Calvin and I hope to be just like them when we grow up. Dressing alike and everything - something we've already started on, that causes Marie to groan and roll her eyes.
    
    
11. Calvin's family - namely his two sisters, their families, his mom, and her husband (I'm cheating here and getting more than twelve people I'm grateful for). They've accepted me into the family quite freely, and have made me realize what I've missed, not having much of a family of my own.
    
    
12. All my internet friends (whether they know they're my friend or not) - Jill, Anna, Jessie, Spinny, Terry, Sherry, everyone at Cornucopia, everyone from WordGoddess, everyone from On Display, all of my Storyteller contributors, Dana, Jayne, Melissa, Jette, Secra, Robyn, Fred, Rob, Elizabeth, Mo, Carrie, Lis (where are you??), Athena, Eliza, Weetabix, Jen, Sarah, Fish, Kymm, John, Shelley (oh my God, she updated!!!), Chuck, Kami, Elle, Selia, and everybody else on my links page (I ran out of HTML steam), and everyone I've forgotten because I know I have.

1. My recipe for The Best Meatloaf Ever, Period.
   
   
2. The cat, if he keeps it up.
   
   
3. The newspaper from 9/11.
   
   
4. A DVD of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".
   
   
5. A DVD player. You know, in case they go the way of the 8-track and they're not around when the capsule gets opened.
   
   
6. Martha Stewart. She can keep the cat company.
   
   
7. A carton of Ben and Jerry's White Russian ice cream. Except that I bet it wouldn't keep very well.
   
   
8. A Zippo lighter. Because they're just handy.
   
   
9. A CD of Pavoratti singing "O Holy Night".
   
   
10. Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pops. Someday, the world *will* know how many licks it takes.
    
    
11. A stuffed Snoopy that plays "Linus and Lucy" when you press his paw.
    
    

1. I still suck at politics.
   
   
2. It is possible to completely plan a wedding in one week.
   
   
3. How to cook a turkey.
   
   
4. I'm a good step-parent.
   
   
5. I still have a lot to learn about being a good step-parent.
   
   
6. This is normal behavior for bees.
   
   
7. The pain of Grandma's passing, while not fading by much, is somewhat bearable when I keep the (bitter)sweet memories to the forefront of my mind.
   
   
8. Journey is still awesome, no matter how many times I see them in concert.
   
   
9. I kind of like Eminem.
   
   
10. I'll never get the lyrics right to "It's The End of the World As We Know It".
    
    

1. Family politics.
   
   
2. Company politics.
   
   
3. Cat's claws.
   
   
4. Credit card bills.
   
   
5. Stupid people.
   
   
6. Fatigue.
   
   
7. Asthma.
   
   
8. Pharmaceutical commercials with a laundry list of side-effects that are worse than what's ailing you. I'll keep the disease, thanks.
   
   
9. Dentist appointments.
   
   

1. All of the Mitford Series by Jan Karon.
   
   
2. Monsters Inc. Especially the film short "For The Birds", which is on the DVD.
   
   
3. The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring. Way. Awesome. Movie.
   
   
4. All of the Anita Blake books by Laurell K. Hamilton.
   
   
5. Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, the book and the movie.
   
   
6. The Harry Potter series, and both movies.
   
   
7. A re-read of all the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey (yes, I own them all).
   
   
8. Heartlight by Marion Zimmer Bradley. One of a series, all of which are quite good.
   
   

1. I participated in Adopt-A-Family.
   
   
2. I participated in charity food drives.
   
   
3. I post funny things (jokes, stories, whatnot) outside my cubicle door so folks can entertain themselves until I can get to them.
   
   
4. I just asked Calvin what he thought I did to make the world a better place, and he said, "You were born." Awwwww...
   
   
5. I never lie. To anybody.
   
   
6. I continued to live my life as I saw fit, despite Osama's plans to the contrary.
   
   
7. I gave people at stop lights something to smile at, as I sang to the radio at the top of my lungs.
   
   

1. A fabulous trip to Hawaii.
   
   
2. Peace between the members of the household and that damned cat.
   
   
3. Renewed (and sustained) discipline toward my fitness goals.
   
   
4. Make a good dent in our debt.
   
   
5. Participate in Nanowrimo.
   
   
6. Get the damned filing done that I've put off for, like, two years.
   
   

1. Calvin, a collection of motorcycles and cars of every kind he'd ever want.
   
   
2. Marie, a $20 every time she stuck her hand in her pocket.
   
   
3. Michael, a $50 every time he stuck his hand in his pocket.
   
   
4. My sister Susan, a 3,000 square foot log cabin laid back in the woods.
   
   
5. Happiness, always, to all of my family, friends, and loved ones.
   
   

1. Limitless energy.
   
   
2. Peace of mind that everything will be okay, always.
   
   
3. The immediate understanding of Calculus, Matrix-style.
   
   
4. The ability to tell a good story.
   
   

1. Every last thing on my Amazon Wish List.
   
   
2. A new crock pot. No, seriously. I've used the crap outta my old one.
   
   
3. A pony. Again, seriously.
   
   

1. Every Christmas with Grandma, before she became a Jehovah's Witness. She'd get up with me at 5:00 in the morning and let me open my stocking. Then I had to wait to open presents until my sister and her husband came over, usually around noon. We'd occupy our time watching the parades on TV and eating bacon sandwiches, and throwing the cat out into the snow just to watch him disappear up to the tip of his tail in the drifts. My God, how I miss my grandmother.
   
   
2. Every Christmas with Calvin, who is responsible for bringing the holidays back to me after 13 years' absence. Our tradition is to begin decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving with the Nativity scene, the Nutcrackers, and the little figurines over the microwave in the kitchen. We don't get the tree until about two weeks before Christmas, and I string all the lights first so I can decorate it (I rarely have help) with all the lights off except for those on the tree. Listening to Christmas music. We have our lobster dinner on the night before Christmas Eve, then sometime during Christmas Eve Day we do something with the relatives. The kids spend the night at their mom's on Christmas Eve. They come back around noon on Christmas day, and we open all the presents.
   
   

1. That it's over (again) so quickly.