Archive: December 2008
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Dec 24 08: coldth and warmth
So November and December have come and gone, and the blog has collected tumbleweeds again. Not a lot of movement on the job front, but I remain optimistic. And at the moment I’m far away from New York City and its troubles; instead, I’m a thousand miles from home, at my sister’s house outside of Minneapolis.
The week has been characterized by staying inside as the temperatures plummet (it was -10° F on the morning of my arrival), cooking and eating and talking with my family and playing with the small children who are my bulwark against total existential despair. I do love being an uncle, and these are the best kids evar. They’re asleep now, of course; it’s Christmas Eve. The grownups bid them all goodnight, and then we took part in the secret grownups-only communion ceremony of eating Santa’s cookies, and drinking his glass of his milk, and eating the carrot sticks left for the reindeer. My mother wrote Santa’s thank-you note. And then there was a frenzy of present-wrapping.
I make a point of being the sort of uncle who makes sure that the kids have good books on hand. This year, the high points of their haul are James and the Giant Peach, which they apparently just saw the movie of, resulting in ongoing games of let’s-pretend-we’re-insects, and James Thurber’s The Thirteen Clocks. If you don’t know the latter, well, you should. They’ve re-released the old hardcover edition (illustrations by Marc Simont, with a new introduction by Neil Gaiman). Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous: Thurber’s language is absolutely brilliant, and made for reading aloud to whomever you have handy. One of my favorite books of all time, ever ever ever.
And then the day after tomorrow, there’s this race. I’ve been double-dog-dared to run a 5K with my sister and her husband and sundry others. At night. In Minneapolis. In December. My first footrace since high school, even. Of course I wasn’t about to lose face and let my little sister do it without me — I’ve been doing some treadmill sessions at the gym over the last couple of weeks, and I know I can run it. (Way faster than my little sister can, actually. Thank you, swim team, for at least keeping me in decent shape.) I have new running shoes and new long-johns for the occasion. My only concern is my right knee, which seems a little startled by all this and periodically sends me peculiar little twinge-y messages. Fewer of them today than yesterday, though, and fewer still than Monday. So this Will Be Fine, and that’s that.
Not really expecting much from under the tree tomorrow. It’ll be the kids’ show, really; and besides, it’s been kind of a lean year for the whole clan, and my big giftie was help in getting to the gathering.1 And a big dose of unconditional love was the best thing I could have asked for, anyway, and I’m getting that here in spades. In that vein, I hope that you, whoever you are, get everything your heart needs to thrive this holiday season. And maybe a good book, besides.
1 Although Avery gave me my Christmas Eve present tonight, and it was a baseball cap that makes me look like a very stylish deer hunter. She picked it out herself. I love it.