Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year!

I bet you all are tired of hearing about how tired i am all the time. Well, I will leave that out of the equation, but let me just tell you that the following took place within three days.

daN and i had about 22 hours each more worth of work to do than we thought we did. We had planned on leaving for Maine on Saturday, December 22 (our anniversary!). We didn't. We spent the day wrapping and cooking and finishing presents and cleaning our filthy apartment. We got about 4 hours of sleep, cleaned some more and packed the car, and then we left for Maine around 9:30 in the morning. We were one of three cars on the road, so we actually made it to Rockport to see daN's nephew within 3.5 hours. Whew! We weren't even speeding!

Sunday night, we hung out with daN's brother and sister-in-law playing Karaoke Revolution. Christmas Eve (Monday), I helped my Mum get ready for the evening's festivities at Nana's house, and then we took off for her place. Christmas Eve at Nana's is always wonderful. I love my family. It's so much fun, and we really savor each other. I feel so lucky.

Christmas morning, we actually slept in just a little, and then Christmas presents happened where we were staying at daN's brother and sister-and-law's place, and another of his brother and his girlfriend were also there. People arrived a tad late, as is how it goes, and the orgy of present opening commenced, followed soon by dinner. We got to hang out with everyone there (including daN's mother, brothers, and their respective significant others) and then we went to my Dad's house in Gardiner for Christmas there with his girlfriend and my halfsister and my brother. It was a good time. He made a real full on dinner, which was a wonderful break from a lot of the rich foods that had been on our plates in the meals before (not that there is anything wrong with rich food).

Yesterday, I took a bus home. Let me just say that I had a great time. daN and i stole walks, which made a big difference. Thank goodness! But he is still in Maine, and I went to work today and will be going to work tomorrow, and then walking to South Station from work and taking the bus up to Maine tomorrow afternoon.

At any rate, I'm kind of glad to be back to MA for the day or two. I got to have coffee with Q and Kate in Davis Square this afternoon and do some more housework yesterday afternoon. It wasn't the bad.

New Year's plans? I have no idea. I am sort of hoping that we'll be able to come back to Boston on New Years Eve instead of New Year's Day so that I have a day to recoup before going back to work for another three days. We'll see, though.

I can say this... or, ASK this, rather: when are we allowed to make our own Christmas tradition? It's tough to do when you live in another state and don't have kids. It seems that children are the metonymy for the license to one's own holiday traditions. Can getting closer to 30 and just not being energetic enough anymore for all the running around be a good enough reason?

That all being said, I had fun. I am getting to the really fun point where I get so excited about giving things that I forget that I will receive things, too. And I got some great presents. Extremely heartwarming presents. There are always the hilarious gifts from my uncle that hint at my baron and void womb; the framed photo of me and daN from my Mum's wedding; the cranberry chutney, spiced blueberry jam, and the handmade candies from my Mum; the cashmere stoll from my Dad; the great movies and trail guides... it was a good time. And all usefull! Ooh! I also got some Bailey's Irish Cream and an inflatable mattress! AND, daN got me an iPod dock that has all kinds of great converters for other countries and it's completely portable! And it sounds great. I'm listening to my podcast of CarTalk right now.

I should go. I have to pack for Maine. Again. And i would LOVE to do some yoga! Yeah... i'm getting excited now. Anyway, happy new year!