And So This Is Christmas...

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Well, it's Christmas eve & it's almost time to start getting ready to be sociable. UGH! Yes, this evening we will be spending with my family. My uncle & his partner are in from Minnesota. The rest of my family will be meeting at my youngest sister's house at 6:00 pm for dinner & Polish traditions.
We usually start with sharing of the oplatek which is a very thin wafer-like square broken & shared with everyone to share good blessings & wishes for the new year. It's pretty much made of the same ingredients that a communion wafer is made of but it's a 5 x7 inch square. Then we sit down to say grace & all each a piece of herring. I know it has some meaning & I need to find that & the Polish spelling. When I do, I will let you know. LOL! We have a meatles dinner of pierogi (dumplings) filled with potato, cheese & plum, fish, kapusta (special sauerkraut with mashed lima beans) & dried plums & apricots. We usually have a few other thigs & dessert as well. After dinner, we sing Christmas carols, Polish & English & the kids will open their gifts. Then it's time to go to midnight mass, which is at 10pm because of the neighborhood or because we are Polish...lol! Those who don't go to church stay behind & cook ham & kielbasa (Polish sausage) for the after midnight meal when meat is able to be eaten. So, when everyone comes back from church, we eat & pretty much go home after that since it's usually around 1-2am.
On Christmas day, we go to my mom-in-laws house for dinner consisting of ham, chicken, sausage (pork & turkey), stuffing, turkey, potatoes, etc. There's a lot of food!!! Then since we exchange names every year, my hubby passes out the gifts. No, he is NOT dressed in a Santa suit. It would be funny, though...shhh, I won't tell him that! LOL. After all the fun is over, we all pack up food & all of our gifts & homemade cookies from my sis-in-law & head home to relax & digest.
I am so looking forward to Saturday when I don't have to do anything! I'll just be here reading blogs, email & playing mahjongg. That is my Christmas gift to me-Rest & Relaxation! I can not wait!
There is one thing my uncle told me yesterday that may be a gift for my whole family. He found out that my middle sis broke up with the idiot guy she got back with after making us happy when she broke up with him earlier in the year. Of course, UGH, they got back together but now we found out that they are no longer together. I certainly hope so. She deserves so much better & needs someone to take care of her instead of her taking care of him & his whole family. Anyway, I'm hoping it's a Christmas miracle. I will let you know, of course!!!

Well, I'm off to the bakery to pick up dessert & bread (that I had to wait a half hour in line to order yeaterday!). Then a nice bubble bath & soon after...The Peace, Joy & Love of Christmas! (cough cough) Sorry, I just choked there for a minute. LOL. Positive thoughts (& lots of cigarettes) will get me through.

Merry Christmas to all & to all Good Luck!!!

Using a Babushka to stifle myself,

Collette

Twas the Weekend Before Christmas...

Cover of Jack Frost

As of 1:00 pm this afternoon, I am done with work until next year! One of the very few perks of working for a school district. Finally, the day is here that I've been looking forward to.since the school year started I don't even care that our boss or our principal didn't spring for any party or gifts. As long as I finished my work & got out of there. That is what's important! It's better to leave than to receive. Or whatever the hell that saying is! LOL.
So, it's the weekend. It looks like it's going ot be a busy one with all the shopping we have to do. We don't have many gifts to buy. I think we have about10 people to buy for, not including ourselves. That shouldn't be too bad since we have an idea of what to get for each one. The usual hat & glove combo for mom & Ciocia (which means "aunt" in Polish). Toy trucks or planes for the boys. One thing I really wanted to get my dad is a peacoat. He used to have one years ago that he loved. He just happened to mention it a couple of onths ago, too. Unfortunately, it doesn't really fit in the budget this year & my one sister can't pitch in because she's been unemployed for some time now. Maybe next year. Babcia hates for us to buy her anything so we just get her a book of stamps. It's practical & she can always use them.
One gift that I am buying myself is an e-cigarette. It's an electronic cigarette that has a battery & a flavor cartridge attached. It tastes kind of like a real cigarette but instead of smoke, it's a water vapor that you blow out. The end even lights up like a real cigarette. The only thing in the catridges is the nicotine & none of the tar or carbon monoxide or chemicals. They have different strengths so that you can lower the amount of nicotine if you want to taper off & quit. And, since it is NOT a cigarette, you can "smoke" it anywhere. My daughter's former babysitter has one & I love it! She has cut down significantly. Also, no more smell of smoke or the coughing & hacking that comes from years of smoking. My non-smoking "friends" (I won't get started on that) can be around me & not worry that I am poisoning them with second-hand smoke. I'll just have to kill them slowly another way It's also a lot cheaper after the inital investment which is about $100( if you don't know somebody).

Right now the sequel to one of my holiday favorite shows is on. It's called "Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman". The original "Jack Frost" (horror flick not Michael Keaton show) is barely ever shown & to even know that there's a sequel is just a thrill! If you didn't know, I love & was brought up on horror flicks. They are fun & entertaining to me. I mostly laugh because they are so unreal & bizarre. I haven't really been afraid of horror flicks in a very long time. The only one that used to scare me was "Salem's Lot" because of the eyes of the head vampire. Freaky glowing or red eyes used to bother me, but now they don't bug me so much. I suppose, after a while, you become immune to the things that used to be so horrible. Well, on screen anyway.

Well, I'm off to watch my holiday classic! Jack has amazing skills using icicles...LOL! Bloody good fun & more my taste for the Christmas season. I will be back next week (I hope) to send you off with lots of holiday cheer & to let you know if I have finished my shopping! Take it easy this week. We still have the new year to conquer!

Babushkas on Snowmen,

Collette

Happy Holidays or Bah Humbug?

Image by HowardLake via Flickr

Well, Thanksgiving is over (WOOHOO!) & the holiday season is in full swing. Except for the fact that it is December 3rd & we have no snow (again, WOOHOO!) as of yet. Yes, they are calling for some flurries & snow showers during the week, but nothing to be worried about. In fact, just the past week has been chilly. We have had temps near 60 & above pretty much all autumn. I am enjoying the hell out of it. As you know, I absolutely hate & dread the winter season. The bitter cold, blizzard-like snow & the incredibly slick & dangerous ice that we deal with here in Michigan makes me want to hibernate until the temps hit 60 once again.

The weather is not the only dreaded thing about this time of year. All the shopping for gifts, finding parking, & pushing & shoving makes it seem as if selfishness has taken over. The news shows people physically fighting over the last popular toy that "my child has to have". Thieves are hiding around every corner watching & waiting until your arms, full of bags & boxes, are emptied into your trunk so they can knock you down to take your car with all the gifts that you worked so hard to save & scrimp for. The usually pleasant salespeople, that have been working many hours with angry customers who can't find what they want, are cranky when you get to them because there's no tag on the item you want & they have to search for a price.

Last, but certainly not least, we come to spending time with the family. Some we see all year long. Some we see during the year for events & get-togethers of sorts. And some come from out of town only a couple of times a year. It seems to me that the ones from out of town are the ones we'd rather see more than some we have closer to us. We are forced to make nice to others because "they are family" or "it's the holidays". Wouldn't it be nice to be able to be honest? So it hurts someone's feelings. I didn't ask to share my holiday with certain people. I would like to enjoy the holidays without any drama or negativity. I want the smile on my face to be genuine. I think if we could just eat & go, I would be very happy! But, it's not to be. I will be one of the few stuck cleaning up & being pushed out of the way so others can have their fun. The funny thing is, I'd rather spend time with my in-laws a during the holidays than my own family. Now you know I'm strange!

Well, I'm really tired because it's late, but I'm going to post this. It's how I feel most of the time during the holidays. The one really good thing about the holidays is having 2 weeks off from work. It's nice to work for a school district!

SO, how do you all REALLY feel about the holidays? MUHAHAHAHA

Hiding Behind My Babushka,

Collette