How We Spent the Holidays

It tried very hard to not be a good Christmas. The transmission on our van died somehow. We were in one of those positions where when something like that happens, perhaps you should get a new car, but do not have the money for one, so you end up spending a lot of money to fix it. Groan. So now our used van has a new transmission. And we are really broke.
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Christmas Day was very nice. We finally got it into our heads not to spend a bazillion dollars on the kids and keep it simple. This was more out of necessity this year, but it worked out well. The children were very happy and our family usually spoils them something terrible. Also, I did not have to spend a month after Christmas finding places to put things.
We went downstate to visit my grandmother who made her usual Italian dinner, antipasto, followed (usually by soup, but not this time), lasagna and then dinner which was roast pork and vegetables. After that we went to Pennsylvania to visit my mother in law.
On the way back up, I stopped at CVS in Yonkers to pick up dramamine for the boys and met Phylicia Rashaad purchasing allergy medicine. It was all my daughter could do to contain herself because she loves old reruns if the Cosby Show. No I did not make a fool of myself and say “ohmy gosh, your Mrs. Huxstable!” but I thought about it when she told me “we’re here for the same things…” and I recognised her voice.
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The Saturday before Christmas, we were blessed to meet some more of our neighbors. We are grateful. One neighbor offered to help with our driveway in exchange for help fixing his woodshed. Another offered to show us how to raise chickens in exchnage for eggs. Our neighbor next door gave us a gift basket or cookies, canned peaches and pineapple peach jam. I have yet to meet his wife due to the snow. Most of it is melted now, and I stopped by yesterday to drop off a panettone I baked, but they were not in. Their driveway was a bit of an obstacle for a car, so I am not sure if we will attempt that again unless on foot.
Now my husband is on vacation for the week. I was supposed to go down to Washington with my father (who now works there) and hang out with Peony, but with our expensive car troubles, it was not very prudent. Next vacation.

11 comments

  1. It’s so weird to run into celebrities isn’t it? We ran into Jason Biggs at Shop Rite last Father’s Day. And I’m not one to be star struck, but it was just weird.
    It’s so cool that you have such wonderful neighbors. Neighboring is a lost art in most places, but the Amish are quite adept at it.
    Glad you posted…I had been thinking about you. :^)

  2. Bummer! I was hoping to catch a glimpse of you via Peony when you rode into our area!
    Oh, well–as you say, next vacation, Lord willing!

  4. Jason Biggs is the star of those awful American Pie movies. He was cute however in Loser and Saving Silverman.

  5. He was also in As the World Turns which I have long since stopped watching in favor of the Mexican soaps that actually end. lol

  6. Ah Patty – los telenovelas! Me gustan mucho! (I learned much of my fractured espanol there!). It is actually quite nice to be able to talk with my pacientes about more than birthing babies and food every so often.

  7. Oh Alicia, how I wish my midwife was as interested in the las telenovelas as you seem to be! lol I’m actually hooked on two of them now (Rebeca & Amar Otra Vez). I can’t get enough of ’em. Characters are either angelically good or intrinsically evil. A simple straight story and always a happy ending. Who could ask for more?

  9. I was in a greasy spoon one night around 1:30 in the AM about 11 years ago, and these these people sat down one booth down from us. It was Jay Leno and his college roommate and his wife! He had just gotten the Tonight show and was actually doing a Comedy show at a local hall earlier that night.This was the only restaurant open at that time of night (back then) in Charlotte, so they were there.
    Heres the kicker; the waitress,who was about 89 years old with a pall mall stuck in the corner of her mouth came over to take their order, took the womans order, took the mans order and turns to Jay Leno and says without batting an eyelid or cracking a smile:”What do you want? Doritos?”

  10. My mother and I followed a telenovela in 1998 when I was at home attending community college. It was called Sin Ti (Sagrario was the angelically good one and Maria Elena intrinsically evil, I think, though the man in their triangle seemed more variable.) It was kind of ridiculous, but we liked it. I still remember the one blond lady telling her husband… um… how do you say “You have no pants?” Tu tienes no pantalones! or something? We eventually learned to follow the story quite well. The theme song was by the soon-to-be-famous-in-America Ricky Martin. I’m not a big TV person but for some reason I have fond memories of this.

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