Christmas

It is official Christmas day. It is much like any other day for me except that I cook more. I'm still not in the hoop la of the Holiday season. Neither did I put my shopping off till the last minute. I did put my grocery shopping off until the last minute but that is just me and had nothing to do with Christmas. It amazes me , when I see people still shopping for presents at the last minute. I find this time of year most stores are picked over. I can't imagine finding the perfect gift but more of an last minute gift of that will do. On the news , they showed mostly men doing last minute shopping. I guess men fit the stereo-type of not liking to shop and being disorganized. I have known a lot of men that like to shop and that are very organized.
I wondered if the real reason for last minute shopping is because people live from pay cheque to pay cheque. I also wondered if the grocery stores are busier because everything is closed until after Boxing Day . If you run out your just screwed and with that mentality people end up stocking up more. I don't know, I can only speak about myself. I made sure I was extra stocked up for the long holiday and possible bad weather. I know it got real bad over the holiday season last year and my partner has lived in this area for almost 36 years said that the weather gets real bad over the holiday season. The weather hasn't changed much yet and has been so sunny but cold. I love all the sun and the brightness against the snow. I still want more snow to cover up the ugliness of the plowing and slush that cars and people make. It looks like a winter wonderland out where I live, compared to what it looks like in town.
I have been preparing for the long holiday closures and being home bound. I started cooking yesterday. I made some pasta salad , potato salad, and ham. I sliced the ham up for sandwiches. The pasta salad looks very pretty with all the different colours of peppers and different veggies. I made a red potato salad which I found a homemade pickle relish to put in it. Very tasty and a balance between sweet and bitter. I'm making deviled eggs this morning. I don't like turkey very much so I'm cooking my partner a thigh as she likes dark meat. I'm going to make a roast today instead with the traditonal meal fair of Xmas. I also have all the condiments like pickles and peppers to go with it. Cheese platter of bleu cheese, cambert, and sharp. A very nice salami and pepperoni as I cant find summer sausage here . I also have buffalo wings, jalapeno poppers, spring- rolls , potsickers. I bought some smoked prosciutto to wrap around some asparagus to grill in the kitchen. I have enough food to feed probably 6-8 people and I'm just feeding two. We will be pigging out until the new year. Then , I'm going to watch what I eat for awhile and get back to the gym after being sedentary and watching movies. I plan on playing the Wii over this period also. It is perfect exercise without leaving the house and putting on a million clothes and heavy snow boots.
The only thing the holiday season has accomplished is putting me in a homey nesting mood with cooking and cleaning. I needed a big kick in the butt to get me back on track again. It also helped getting a very whimsical apron for Christmas. I love it. It has a tex-mex theme on it with peppers, Tabasco sauce, tacos and tequila on it. I love aprons and collect them. I like wearing them because I'm such a slob in the kitchen and end up wearing what I'm cooking if I don't wear one. I also got a itunes card. I was in heaven with it as I can blow through it in about 5-10 minutes. I actually got my fill with a hundred dollars worth of music. I could probably down load music all day if I could. I'm up to 13gb on my ipod now. I still have about 135 gbs to feel it up. I'm working at it. If I ever get my storage cleared out I have a lot of stuff to transfer to it. I just love music and it never gets old for me. I love every genre of music even though I'm not that wild with some country. I do like some of it. My ipod is very eclectic and a person could find about anything on it.
I also got a snuggie. It really isn't as cheesy as they advertise it as on the chimerical. The sleeve part does get in my way a little bit but generally the only time I wear it is watching tv and it does fine. I wouldn't use it to work on my computer as the sleeves sort of gets in the way and tends to be bulky for me. It is nice and warm and the plus for me is it is in leopard that tends to hide dog hair. Patterns are wonderful for pet hair. I was thinking stains also. I don't eat with it on so it isn't a problem. We also got the whole series of ab fab and I love it. Nothing like women with sharp tongues . I also like my cafe mug I received filled with biscotti. How can you go wrong with that. My final gift I recieved was money. I purchased two seasons of The jetsons with that. I love old cartoons. I also put my own money with it and ordered Saturday cartoons of the 60's. I can't wait to get them. I ended up buying my partner a Nintendo Ds as they have phased out gameboys for awhile. She loved it and the plus side she can use her gameboy games on it. I also got her games and a book. I combined her Christmas and birthday, since they are so close together. The book is called Pegahmagabow- Life-long Warrior. It is about a man that was a WW1 solider and an Indian Chief. I think she will enjoy it as she was excited to get it because she loves local history, Native North American culture, and anything about war history. It truly combines all of those elements together.
Most of all I'm thank-full to be in a better mood and not so depressed. Unlike, most people ,I'm blessed not to have all the stress most people have during the holiday season.