December 18, 2005
We just found out that Keith is tentatively on the work schedule for Christmas morning, 6-10 AM. I am not going to write about his job, because that is the Road to Unemployment, but I will just say that it is only through an extreme act of will that I am not completely insane with rage right now.
I suppose that what we'll do, if the tentative schedule turns into the actual schedule, is tell the kids that Christmas morning we'll make cinnamon rolls or something, and then when Daddy gets home we'll open the presents under the tree. This may involve blocking off the front living room with chairs and strategically placed blankets; I'm not sure yet. I guess I shouldn't complain too much, because it could be a lot worse ("You're working from 6 AM to 6 PM!") but it was unexpected, and extremely annoying, and frustrating too.
We're still working on our annual Christmas letter, which as you can see from today's date is going to be going out a little on the late side this year. It was recently brought to my attention that there is a contingent of people out there who think holiday letters are kind of stupid, and who don't like receiving them. To those people, I say: If you don't like our letter, feel free to cram it up your chimney. There's a reason the good Lord made trash cans.
Anyway, if ours even makes it out by New Year's this year, it will be some kind of minor miracle. Keith is working 50-60 hour weeks, I have the aforementioned indexing deadline, and then all the other Christmas stuff. We've taken to appending "after Christmas" to almost every sentence. As in, "Hmm, the brakes on the car need looked at...after Christmas," or "We should try to find that missing library DVD...after Christmas," or "The kids should really get a bath...after Christmas."
The brakes on the car actually do need to be looked at, and it can't wait until after Christmas, either. They've been making a grinding noise on the rear left for a few days. At first I was optimistic that maybe a big chunk of ice or rock salt got kicked up in there, but a couple of thorough sprayings at the car wash didn't fix the problem, so it's off to the mechanic for us. We're also going to ask him to fix the windshield washer pump, the cruise control, possibly the cigarette lighter (so I can run my cell phone charger in the car), and also to do a radiator flush, since I think it's about time.
You know, because we didn't have enough crap to deal with this week already. Ho, ho, ho.
Posted at December 18, 2005 3:31 PM
Posted by: Margaret DeAngelis at December 19, 2005 8:44 PM
"If you don't like our letter, feel free to cram it up your chimney. There's a reason the good Lord made trash cans."
Well said.
I am a big fan of the holiday letter genre. I send mine on or about the Feast of Stephen (Dec. 26). Yesterday at my Big Fat Open House I overheard several people talking about how holiday letters are stupid and nothing but brag fests, etc. All of them, of course, are on my list. Hmm.