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The best kinds of gifts
Dec. 14th, 2011 10:44 amWhile he has been here for a visit, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scrottie has been helping me at every opportunity with projects to make this house feel at least a little more like home. This has ranged from helping with stripping paint off of the doors (just about done - they just need some sanding and wood filler here and there!), to obtaining some LED Christmas lights to string up in the front yard (shiny and pretty!). Now I'm back at that point where I have so many little projects to work on that I can't decide which ones to work on next. That's all right, though, really. Some will get done sooner, some will get done later. Hopefully this gift-making craze will settle down after the holidays.
I'm trying to mentally prepare for holiday travels. I still need to figure out care for Ms. Emma - most likely, I'll hire the person who sent an e-mail out to the departmental listserv to offer pet care services. To be honest, the more I think about it, the less enthusiastic I get about my family's plan to spend Christmas at Lake Tahoe. I can understand why my brother and sister-in-law want to go there (they can visit both sets of parents simultaneously!). I just keep thinking about my grandpa's health and about all of the other people and places I'd like to visit in and around Seattle. And things just aren't as much fun withoutscrottie's company. I understand and appreciate his reasons for his holiday plans, and I am grateful to get to spend good time with him, though. In Seattle I'll get to see a couple of people, but the time window is so brief I'm worried I'll wind up just frantically running around instead of having time and quiet for tea and Scrabble and good conversations and reflection about where I am in my life. At least a visit with gfrancie will be an exception, though things are probably not so quiet with the short set running around, heh.
My feelings about the Lake Tahoe trip are making me think ahead and wonder about the Christmas season for the following year, and about traveling in general. If my family decides to travel elsewhere again, perhaps I will start planning to visit Seattle at another time of the year instead, and will keep travel minimal over the holidays.
scrottie has been helping me at every opportunity with projects to make this house feel at least a little more like home. This has ranged from helping with stripping paint off of the doors (just about done - they just need some sanding and wood filler here and there!), to obtaining some LED Christmas lights to string up in the front yard (shiny and pretty!). Now I'm back at that point where I have so many little projects to work on that I can't decide which ones to work on next. That's all right, though, really. Some will get done sooner, some will get done later. Hopefully this gift-making craze will settle down after the holidays.I'm trying to mentally prepare for holiday travels. I still need to figure out care for Ms. Emma - most likely, I'll hire the person who sent an e-mail out to the departmental listserv to offer pet care services. To be honest, the more I think about it, the less enthusiastic I get about my family's plan to spend Christmas at Lake Tahoe. I can understand why my brother and sister-in-law want to go there (they can visit both sets of parents simultaneously!). I just keep thinking about my grandpa's health and about all of the other people and places I'd like to visit in and around Seattle. And things just aren't as much fun without
scrottie's company. I understand and appreciate his reasons for his holiday plans, and I am grateful to get to spend good time with him, though. In Seattle I'll get to see a couple of people, but the time window is so brief I'm worried I'll wind up just frantically running around instead of having time and quiet for tea and Scrabble and good conversations and reflection about where I am in my life. At least a visit with gfrancie will be an exception, though things are probably not so quiet with the short set running around, heh.My feelings about the Lake Tahoe trip are making me think ahead and wonder about the Christmas season for the following year, and about traveling in general. If my family decides to travel elsewhere again, perhaps I will start planning to visit Seattle at another time of the year instead, and will keep travel minimal over the holidays.
