Holiday Break - A Review

Day 1 – Escaped NYC during the transit strike and made record time back to MA. After listening to traffic and planning our exit, we hit the rode and were in Medway, in bed, by 12:30 am. after only 3.5 hours of driving and a 10 minute stop at Taco Bell. Sweet!

Day 2 – Fajitas and margaritas (deadly!) at the Border Café with MG, NL, and their, gasp, husbands. Ate pizza with The Parents, discussed the church/state scandal that erupted in my hometown that day (do you guys know about this? madness!), and then watched Roll Bounce, which was actually quite good and made me want to roller skate even though, were I to attempt to roller skate, I’d most likely die instantly.

Day 3 – Christmas Eve! D and I went to breakfast at The Medway Restaurant in order to “get out of the house.” We returned and tried to watch Fahrenheit 451, again. This particular viewing was interrupted by the arrival of Brother and Brother’s Girlfriend. Woo hoo!!! We tried to hide under blankets to scare them as they entered the house but they were unimpressed. Sister and Sister’s boyfriend arrived soon thereafter (also not scared by the hiding), and we headed out to celebrate with Mother’s Side. I drank too much too soon. I received domestic gifts that I’d requested. I didn’t have as much fun as I’d have liked because we are old now and without kids Christmas isn’t much fun. Somebody needs to have a baby and soon! We returned home and opened Christmas gifts, zombie-style, because we’d be too rushed in the morning with 8 people trying to get ready, church (not that any of us got up in time for church), etc. I am now the proud of owner of Pink Laptop Bag! Yippee!!!!

My gifts were well-received. Nothing, thankfully, needs to be returned.

And, I know you are all in suspense, D did not already have and therefore LOVED THE SHIRT and put it on immediately and then wore it for the next three days straight.

Day 4 – Christmas Day! I again drank too much too soon. It was tolerable aside from the obligatory family scandal.

Day 5 – Recovery Day. D went to visit his grandmother in RI while I stayed behind and mostly did nothing. I went to lunch with Sister and Brother. No significant others. It was rare and lovely. We went to visit friends of the family that night and had a lovely time, despite Sister and I having developed some sort of stomach flu.

Day 6 – Boston! We headed into Allston, dropped off luggage and piles of Christmas gifts, headed to The Museum of Science to go to the Star Wars Exhibit, which was sold out! Dejected, we headed to a gallery in the South End to see a drawing show D was interested in, but it was closed! Denied! We then headed out to Belmont for delicious and plentiful crepes cooked by JV at his very grownup, very nice apartment. We drank wine and then headed back to Allston and watched some episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 5.

Day 7 – Had breakfast at Zaftig’s with Sister and Sister’s Boyfriend after a long and irritable wait. D and I hit Brookline Booksmith and accidentally spent money). D, Sister and I then met up with my aunt and my cousin at my aunt’s apartment for more wine and then dinner and then the rest of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 5.

Day 8 – Had lunch with LBF at Grendel’s and then hit the road to go to New Hampshire to hang out with D’s friends who just had a baby. When I walked in the baby was handed to me before I even had a chance to say anything. My initial reaction was PANIC! which changed in about one second to “I want to steal this baby and keep him as my own!” Darn you, biological clock! We drank wine and ate Thai food and then slept in an actual bed. Bliss.

Day 9 – Headed back to Cambridge and had empanadas and margaritas at The Border Café with MS, who I hadn’t seen since I’d moved! Went back to Sister’s for a bit, and then met A and J for dinner at the West Side Lounge. We tried to get fondue at Temple Bar but they were snobbish and said “We don’t serve just dessert until after 10:30.” Hmph. J improvised white chocolate fondue at home. We dipped raspberries and pound cake and strawberries and banana and pineapple and other goodies. Delicious! D was very impressed with A and J’s fabulous grownup loft and may possibly be convinced that it might be acceptable to live somewhere other than NYC. We played Dance Dance Revolution (why doesn’t Sony just sell a Dance Dance Revolution machine? then I would buy one!), Sesame Street Chutes and Ladders, played with the cat and had a grand time.

Day 10 – J cooked popovers and we talked about the pharmaceutical industry. A and J dropped us off at Fancy Hotel, where we reveled in being alone for the first time in over a week. We successfully attended the Star Wars exhibit (pictures forthcoming), napped at the hotel, ate at Papa Razzi because I couldn’t think of anything better, went to Sister’s show at Bill’s Bar (amazing!), went back to the hotel and drank too much champagne (instaheadache), drunkenly had the talk about “The Future” and was surprised that the talk was not instigated by yours truly and instantly understood why the talk had not occurred previously, happily fell asleep for about 5 minutes before I woke up, reminded of the terrible headache.

Day 11 – Ironically tired given that we stayed at the hotel to get a good night’s sleep - curses! Picked up the rental car and met A for a burrito at Anna’s, drove back to Sister’s to reclaim pile of Christmas gifts, then drove down to NYC in a daze. I was exhausted but had a burst of productivity when I got home. I unpacked and organized and made lists and accomplished many things, although this did not include successfully watching Fahrenheit 451, which I tried to watch again and ended up returning.

Day 12 – Alone. Totally, completely, utterly, blissfully alone. It was great to see everyone, but it was mayhem. I caught up, organized more, unpacked more, seamlessly integrated my Christmas gifts into my high functioning apartment, went grocery shopping, dropped off laundry, went grocery shopping some more, made the mistake of going shopping on the second worst shopping day of the year, watched a Netflix, and went to bed.