The Girl Who Learned To Kneel

1. Decadent movie watching. Don’t get any ideas. When I say decadent, I’m talking about the amount of movies and not the content (As if you would expect anything less from me, particularly first time readers who may or may not be confused by the title of this blog, which in my opinion evokes only images of one kneeling in prayer. Confusing digression over.) Sooooooo. Yes. We watched movies. Often. Movies, movies, movies. I said, “Maybe we should all go be productive?” Vacant stares. “Never mind,” I said. “And please pass the Swedish Berries.” So movies: Star Trek (which turned out to be one of my favourites—surprising because up until this Christmas I have always opted to read real life tales of oh, the Pioneers versus watching make believe adventures in the Intergalactic. But now that it’s 2010 I’m different and willing to explore the unknown. If you need to take a risk, you know who to call.) More movies: Death at a Funeral, In the Loop (both British and supremely funny); The Taking of Pelham 123 (not great unless you really enjoy John Travolta in the role of disturbed alpha male, which I do); The Brothers Bloom (and I quote “You’re constipated in your fucking soul!”). And so many more. Movies, wine, chocolate. A heavenly triad.
2. That chocolate bark from William Sanoma. Have you had it? You should have it. I should have more. Actually we should all have a delicious treat after every meal from now on. That’s a rule.
3. Coffee à la Simon. My husband takes his coffee seriously (and so do I because we are one) and makes a mean brew. We took our coffee habit to the next level this Christmas by springing for a vacuum sealer. Yes, internet. Now after hand grinding our beans, pouring the coarse grinds into a French Press, setting the microwave timer for 4 minutes and 3 seconds, we put the leftover beans in a plastic container and vacuum out all the air. Why? So our expensive beans will last longer. Obviously. Is that not the smartest thing we’ve ever done? Not at all coffee obsessive, weird, verging on creepy, any of those words. Thank you for acknowledging our brain power.



4. Watching Elsie get to know her other family. We live with my parents so Ama and Ampa (aka Grandma and Grandpa) are known entities, almost as good as Mama herself. (Did I mention she’s going through a Mama phase? I pretty much rule. Thankfully Simon is not an insecure Dad or he would be taking a lot of sitting down showers. Am I the only one who takes sitting down showers and wastes a lot of water during times of depression and insecurity? I thought it was a thing. People. Did.) Anyhoo. This post-PhD-Christmas-season afforded us more time to visit with Simon’s family so Elsie got to know another fat cat named Abbey, her other Aunties, and of course, her Papa Alfred. She really digs his wall to wall green shag.



5. Home made tortière (Thank you, MaryEllen). Croissants on Christmas morning (Thank you, Ma Maison). Organic turkey (Thank you, Mom and everyone else in the organic turkey chain). Chocolate. So many delicious kinds (Thank you, Chocolate Makers and Chocolate Growers of the world). Basically, a big thank you to all who provided me with digestible things that lulled me to holiday tasty heaven—said in that order. I wasted nothing.
6. A new wallet courtesy of Simon. A decade of looking through a microscope has really refined his perception for quality. The correlation between molecular plant life and a turquoise leather wallet from Italy is clear to everyone on this end. And everyone on this end controls the key board.



7. Watching my dad become a blogger. Yes, readers. My father has started a blog. Well, I started him a blog as a birthday present. He had no choice. To ignore the present I gifted would have been rude. As such, he has obliged me with interesting and ‘slantwise’ bits about faith. Read his blog for inspiration and a leading toward introspection.
8. Elsie sharing her blueberries halves (halved inside her mouth with her growing collection of front teeth) with me in front of the Christmas tree; Elsie falling in love with kitties in front of the Christmas tree, namely Himalayan ones of cousins thrice removed with very little life force (the Himalayan kitties I mean), and as such offering very little resistance for fondling and eyeball touching; Elsie singing karaoke in front of the Christmas tree. So basically Elsie doing cute things in front of various Christmas trees. How could that be anything but special?

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the holiday low lights, starting with my intensive face peel.

p.s. Not a good idea to do a thorough face sloughing during party season. A smarter person might have assessed that herself.

p.p.s. What were your holiday highlights? Do tell. Feel free to be equally long winded. I encourage long winded-ness on my blog.