Christmas vacation

Did you know that there's such a thing as a wine sippy cup? Well, there is, and I got a set of them for Christmas. I opened the box, and thought "is that what I think it is?" and it was, and it seemed like the silliest manufactured item ever offered for sale. And then I poured a glass of wine and I ended up ordering two more wine sippy cups, with pretty enameled designs. Welcome to 2020. Call me Karen. 

It's 6:45 pm on Christmas night. We have dinner very early on holidays, so the kitchen is clean now, and we're settling into a lazy evening in a very cozy room. It is quite cold outside but the fire is crackling away and it's almost too warm in our family room. Luckily, my sippy cup keeps the wine cold. 

It was a nice Christmas. I got to see two small children enjoy cookies and presents, and I received a brand new Capitals jersey in the new reverse retro screaming eagle design. I'm wearing it now. We went to Mass last night, and it was joyful, though a little sad to hear the cantor sing alone. 

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It’s December 26 now. Boxing Day if you're in the UK. They have the right idea, because the day after Christmas should be an official holiday. We usually do a family thing on December 26--a museum visit, and a walk around downtown DC to see the Capitol and White House Christmas trees, and then a late lunch at an Irish pub around the corner from the Capital One Center. We could still walk around outside, of course, but the museums and restaurants are all closed, and it’s very cold today, anyway. It’s too bad. I like seeing the inauguration stands under construction at the Capitol. But maybe they’re not even building them this time. Maybe they’re doing the whole damn thing on Zoom. 

Anyway, my younger son is busy today, and it wouldn’t have been the same without the whole family. Coronavirus or no coronavirus, the City of Rockville is holding lifeguard certification classes, the first that have been available since March. So not everything is cancelled. 

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December 27, Sunday. It’s 9:30 and I’ve been up for hours. My son had lifeguarding class this morning and so I woke up early to make breakfast and lunch for him. He’s 16 and could easily do both of those things for himself; but you find, paradoxically, that as soon as your children are old enough to do things for themselves, you want to do those things for them, because you won’t have the chance for much longer. It’s true what they say. They do grow up fast. 

Normally, I take off for the holiday week. This year, I thought I’d just save the PTO and work through most of the week, because so many things are closed or cancelled and because I’d be home anyway, so what’s the difference. But there is a difference. There’s a big difference between working at home and being at home, just because you like to be at home, and I do like to be at home. So aside from a few hours tomorrow and a few random calls and emails, I am going to take the week off. I have books to read and a fireplace to sit in front of and movies to watch and walks to take. Not to mention one last week of eating all of the things that I normally don’t eat. I made the cookies and now I get to eat them, with some nice pinot grigio in an enameled sippy cup.