Lengthy Holiday Update

Ah the silence, that’s the silence of boredom. Not with you, of course, but of my boring life. I am now in the countdown to finals. (First one is on Tuesday the 11th, ask me if I’m ready. No, don’t ask.) This is what I like to call my cranky time, the time where I’m snappy and miserable and not much fun to around. It is also around this time that my laugh acquires a little undertone of mania. Of course, let’s not forget that it is not just me who is going through finals at this time, but also Ry. Ry has his own particular crabbiness at this time too, and together we’re like…like…like that bomb in the school in the Die Hard movie with Jeremy Iron, where once the two liquids mix any little thing can detonate it…that’s what we’re like during finals. Ry gets super worked up and then wants to tell me about his outlines and how much he has done and all of that. Meanwhile, I work full time and go to class at night and can only take so much time from work for preparation of my finals, so I always feel like I am way behind when I hear where Ry is at in his studying. Now I know we all study in different ways, but hearing him be so self-satisfied about where he is in his outlines is like eating half of a filet mingon in front of a homeless person and then giving the remainder of the filet to your dog. Not cool. (Then again, during this period of time I am a cranky, shrewish, witch; more likely to rip your face off than look at you, so I guess it evens out.)

In other news, however, we got ourselves a tacky tree this year, we had a choice between white & silver. I’ve always wanted silver but I let Ry pick and he picked white, it’s cool though because it’s got sparklies on it anyway. We got it at Target for $24.99, it came packaged in a clear plastic tube, and nothing says class like a clear plastic tube. It’s pre-lit and about four feet tall, we also got a star to go on the top, which is so supremely tacky and cheap that it didn’t even have a way to affix it to the top of the tree! I ended up wrapping the tip of the tree on top it and then wrapping the cord tight around the tip of the tree, underneath the star. I actually really love it. It’s so kitsch and tacky that it’s awesome. In fact I think my goal will be to start collecting really schlocky ornaments to decorate to hang on it, it will be my Christmas kitsch. So the POINT is that since neither of us will be home for Christmas there’s no point in buying a Christmas tree stand and a tree if we can even enjoy it, but a tacky white plastic tree is the perfect way to decorate and we can put it up every year that we don’t have a real tree. (And some years that we do!)

That’s my holiday update, that and I’ve been inspired by blogs that I read and some friends to try and give, make and buy at least a few handmade gifts this year. Hopefully I’ll plan better for Christmas next year so that the majority of my gifts will be handmade. I will probably not post again until after finals or I receive my Mitten Swap package, whichever comes first, but I will be responding to e-mails and comments, so keep in touch!

p.s. Thanks to my mitten swap partner for her words of encouragement. That means a lot to me. Thank you.