Solstice-Related Holiday Preparations

Christmastime is upon us once again.  As academic folk we always have very busy Decembers (final exams, grading, AGU conference, etc.) and Christmas always sneaks up on us.  By the time we pull our heads out of our backsides and look around, it's already late December.

We've had our first fire in the fireplace.  It's not Benjmain's first fire ever, but it's the first this year and the first that he can point to and say "fire."  And since he was immobile last winter, it's also his first opportunity to immolate himself in a fiery conflagration if we don't keep an eye on him.



We've had a few opportunities to hit the mall and join the frenzy.  I grew up near the Tysons Corner mall in northern Virginia, and I always enjoyed going to the mall at Christmastime, as odd as that may sound.  I was a "local" and so I had a secret parking area that allowed me quick access to the mall, so parking wasn't a problem (and I usually didn't have to deal with those scary people that stalk you in their car as you walk back to your parking spot).  Glittery decorations and holiday hustle and bustle is cheery fun for me in small doses.

We've survived our first horrible pestilence of the holiday season.  A couple of weeks ago we were all on Amoxicillan all at once.  Claire and I had three strep tests between the two of us, all negative.  Nevertheless, we were treated for strep.  The doses were calibrated for our various body masses, but the bottle sizes were not.

We picked up a nice tree.  I have this dream that someday we will get a permit from the National Forest so we can have a memorable family walk through the snowy woods to find the perfect wild tree.  But this year we got it from the Home Depot parking lot.  It is notable for the fact that the tree farmer didn't trim all of the branches in order to shape it into a perfect conical shape.  I like a little natural-looking fuzziness in my Christmas trees.  Also in my cats.

We lugged out the ornaments.  Benjamin was more interested in their value as toys than their intended decorative application.  We kept the spiky and breakable ones and the ones with sentimental value away from him as best we could.  But he's sneaky and fast.

He helped a bit with the decorating.  This primarily involved struggling to put ornaments on the tree, taking them off again, and then struggling to put them back on the tree again.

Merry Christmas!