Ho, ho, ho

Zoe welcomes home Aunt Kelly.


My sister Kelly came in from Syracuse yesterday right before I went to work. Apparently she went with my father to get a tree while I was gone, and they didn't tell me about it until this morning. So we have a TREE! Granted, it's a fake one, and I'll have to tear it all down in a week (or leave it up until March, like Pittsburghers are known to do), but it's great that Zoe got to decorate a tree. It was important to me, and I'm glad it was important to Dad and Kelly. Or at least to Kelly. Dad just complained that it was a crappy tree.

Most of the ornaments we dug out of the attic were ones my mother made. Some we made as kids, and I hadn't seen them in years either. Next year I'll make ornaments with Zoe.

We made some great finds in the attic: Kelly found (and staked a claim on) a beautiful Christmas tree platter that I don't remember at all. And there were some laugh-out-loud finds, such as disfigured Santa candles and tinsel garland that was missing much of its tinsel. But someone still packed them back up and put them in the attic!

We aimed to make a tree that was as not tacky as possible, but Dad bought new tinsel, so..... there ya go. :)


Zoe helps her Aunt Kelly set up the tree.



"The sun is too bright," Zoe says.


It was a beautiful day outside too. Incredibly sunny and somewhat warm. I can kiss that snow goodbye for now. Everyone's bitching that there won't be a white Christmas. I'm used to it, and I couldn't care less. It is my first Christmas with all of my family in many, many years. I hope we don't kill each other. :)

We tracked Santa online beginning in the afternoon and ran a few errands, visited some family ... I missed most of the Steeler game, and my dad nearly reprimanded me for it. The game was a shut out. I'll hear about it constantly on the news and in passing conversation until the next game, so I really didn't miss anything. (I never thought I could get sick of hearing about the Steelers.)


Kelly and Zoe find Santa's location on the NORAD Web site. By evening Mr. Claus was already crossing the Atlantic from Europe.



Zoe prepares cookies and milk for Santa.


After Zoe finally went to bed, Kelly and I did last-minute wrapping and crammed everything under the tree. Dad sat in his easy chair bitching that we were in the way of the TV. I asked him: "When we were kids, did Mom do all this stuff while you sat on your ass?"

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No, I had to put shit together."

We don't talk too much about it, but we all miss Mom.

I can't wait to get up in the morning. I finally opened all the boxes of gifts that arrived in the mail for Zoe and put them under the tree with everything Santa left. She scored big time! It appears I scored a little too! We'll find out tomorrow.

Merry Christmas to all! And happy Hanukkah too!


Zoe and her mom.