We had a very nice and relaxing holidays this year. Well mostly anyway. Michelle came home mid-week after her finals, and started baking the cookies the next day. So far so good. Thursday I went into the city for an Innovation Lab holiday lunch. That was lots of fun and it was good to see my colleagues face to face. Ben, Ginny and I spent alot of time hanging around talking afterwards.
Lizzy was supposed to come home Thursday, but got into a fender bender pulling out of her driveway leaving Buffalo. She flew home the next day. Jeannie was delighted to see her. That evening we went out to dinner and played legos. I finished my Porco Rosso fake lego airplane. The design was kinda structurally unsound, so I had to improvise some reinforcements. Later we watched the Charlie Brown, Grinch and Rudolph specials.
Unfortunately, Jeannie came down with Covid the day before Christmas eve. The three of us tested negative and went to the family Xmas party on Long Island, this year moving into a new generation of cousins as hosts, at Megan and JJ’s house. Good to see everyone and catch up. They have a bar in their house, and JJ is into different kinds of rum. He’s also into different kinds of alternative and independent music, and wants to help me get set up on Bandcamp.
Xmas eve Jeanne was mostly sitting around or in bed napping. Lizzy was exiled to the sofa bed in the family room so Jeannie could isolate in her office, which was also Lizzy’s old bedroom. The girls did the last of the shopping and Michelle baked while I did the household stuff and we all did the wrapping. Listened to a bunch of Xmas music, best of which was Ella Fitzgerald.
Xmas day just the four of us; we had to un-invite Mary’s and Jeannie’s folks. We all slept in. Lots of legos, I got a pirate ship, Michelle got a zen garden, and Jeannie got an a-frame camp house. Lots of other gifts too. My new favorite game is Ticket to Ride: San Francisco. By afternoon Jeannie was feeling better, and supervised as the girls made Xmas dinner. Roast beast, very nice.
Boxing day morning Jeannie was over Covid but still testing positive. The three of us tested negative and decided to go up to my parents in Buffalo b/c Lizzy had to work the next day anyway. Martin and Kathleen and their kids were there too. Lizzy rented a car and went back to her apartment. She came back at dinner time with her boyfriend Josh. After dinner we opened gifts and facetimed in Jeannie. Afterwards we drank some wine, sat around and talked and played games.
Wednesday was very mellow. I talked to my mum awhile and took a walk around the lake in the morning and went shopping with Martin and Kathleen in the afternoon. In the evening Lizzy and Josh came by again and we all got pizza. Thursday Michelle and I went home. On the car ride we listened to a bunch of new music including Hozier and Noah Kahan, both of whom I liked alot. I turned Michelle on to the new Peter Gabriel record I/O, and some classic records including Chicago and Bowie. This led to me figuring out Lady Stardust on piano, a forgotten gem. I tried to listen to Cortez the Killer but Neil Young is still boycotting Spotify.
We got home in time for a four-day weekend. Unfortunately, Michelle came down ill, though not as bad a Jeannie. I tested positive for Covid too, although I never had any symptoms. So we didn’t get to see any friends, but it was relaxing to hang around, build legos, work on my song, play games and watch movies, and things like that. I’ve been reading alot. Before Xmas I read Geddy Lee’s autobiography My Effin’ Life, and Howl’s Moving Castle, which I like better than the movie. I’m in the middle of two other books now, recommended by Martin. One is about Columbus, John Cabot and Amerigo Vespucci, and the whole discovery of the new world thing. The other is the first of the Discworld series, which is alot of fun, sort of halfway between The Princess Bride and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.