Christmas time in the city

It’s December 15 now. 10 in the morning, 35 degrees, gray and still and peaceful. It looks like snow. It feels like Christmas. 

We rode the Metro downtown last night, Red Line from Glenmont to Judiciary Square, which is a much better Metro stop than Gallery Place if you’re going to the Capitals game, as we were. That’s an insider tip from me to you. The Metro runs mostly above ground until Union Station, and the neighborhoods around the stations are lively hubs of apartment buildings and restaurants and bars and stores. Catholic University and Gallaudet University are along the route. Every time I take the Red Line to Judiciary, I think about selling my house after I retire, and then moving to a cute little city apartment right on the Red Line. Maybe I will. Anything can happen. 

We got on the train about about 5:30 last night, so it was already dark and quite cold. The sky was clear, and Christmas lights and Christmas trees sparkled in apartment windows. It’s the first time this year that I felt really Christmassy. We couldn’t get a seat at our beloved Irish Channel, so we had a quick dinner at the noodle and sushi place next door, and that was an excellent decision. The tiny restaurant with its decor of vintage album covers and twinkle lights was full of lovely young people on their way out for the evening, some on their way to the Capitals game, and the food was delicious. The Capitals won - again - and we ran for the train at Judiciary, crossing the platform after the station manager directed us to the wrong side. I guess we looked like Shady Grove people. The trains were single tracking after a terrible pedestrian strike at Gallery Place and that might have been the last train out of Judiciary before the real delays began. 

According to Metro, the woman who was struck was a “trespasser.” I’m not sure what that means - was she hiding out in a tunnel? She survived but is badly injured. I hope she’ll be OK. I hope the train operators will be OK. How dreadful for a train operator to hit someone, even if it wasn’t their fault. 

It’s Monday now. I couldn’t find any updates on the person’s condition this morning. I hope this means that she is recovering.

*****

I might have finished my Christmas shopping. I have a list, of course, because I have a list for everything, but I have not yet checked it twice. On Saturday, I was on my way to Barnes and Noble to get a few additional small gifts, and I was greeted by a horrifying sight.  A huge gaggle of vultures (I don’t know if gaggle is the right word for a gang of vultures but it’s onomatopoeic, because they make me gag) was feasting on the carcass of a deer. Vile. Utterly repulsive. The next day, the carcass was almost picked clean. It’s gone this morning, thankfully. Whatever I pay in tax dollars to Montgomery County and the state of Maryland, it’s worth it because when there’s a rotting carcass in your front yard or on your street, you can call someone, and they’ll come and take it away. 10/10. Would recommend - the efficient local government, that is, not the rotting carcass and definitely not the filthy vultures. 

*****

Still no update on the Metro accident victim. I’m sorry for her and I hope she’ll survive and recover, but I’m more sorry for the driver who hit her. I keep thinking about how traumatic that must be. 

I’m not sorry for that stupid deer, though, because we’re overrun with the silly creatures, and between unleashed pit bulls and deer gangs and acrobatic raccoons hanging on our bird feeders and disgusting vultures, I have just about had it with the wildlife in this neighborhood. I’ve managed to avoid suburban bears and coyotes, but it’s only a matter of time. 

*****

Christmas Eve is one week from today. I did forget one person, and now I have to figure out what to get for that person, and when I’ll have time to shop. Almost all of my other gifts are wrapped now, but it’s cookie time, too. And I have a lot of other things to do this week, too. And so I’m sitting here and writing about it all, because that’s always the best way to get things done. 

*****

It’s December 18, and the countdown has begun, and it’s time to finish this silly thing before it goes (completely) off the rails. Too late, I know. Less than one week from today, the getting ready for Christmas part of this timeline concludes, and the celebrating of Christmas part begins. Anything that isn’t done by about noon on December 24 just isn’t going to be done, and it’ll all be fine. It’s Christmas time in the city, and the suburbs, and the country, where all of the furry creatures should be spending their holidays. Merry Christmas.