Doesn’t seem too different from any other day of the year, and that’s actually pretty much OK by me.

This is the first year that we haven’t really decorated the house at all for Christmas, which sort of makes sense given that neither I nor Takaza celebrate Christmas. It seems odd, though – the break from tradition, like something is missing. It’s not too big of a deal, though. Maybe next year, wherever we are, we’ll string some lights on the house or something. Or not.

So, we exchanged gifts over the weekend to commemorate the Solstice – the beginning of a shared tradition for us, I’m hoping. Things were modest, given my employment situation, but we did well: I got Dan a nice set of darts, a How to Host a Murder game, and Unexploded Cow. After exiling me from the house for a bit, I came home to find his gift for me was a series of chocolate discs (dark chocolate with white chocolate letters piped on – eat your heart out, Jacques Torres!) that spelled out 9-0-M-I-N-U-T-E-M-A-S-S-A-G-E-1 PM MON. And that’s what I got – a lovely 90-minute massage from a massage therapist we know in Durham. It was a wonderful gift – perfect, because it was so nice to relax and de-stress.

So on Monday, after a slow start, I went and got my massage (heaven!), then we met up with Thomas and played some darts and pool and drank beer (well, some beer – I’ve found I’ve developed quite a taste for Smirnoff Ice, too). Sherry joined us when she had finished her shopping and we walked over to MacGregor Ale House for dinner. Dan also discovered the joys of NTN Network, which means we may be spending more time at the Ale House for a while 🙂

Yesterday we had Thomas, Sherry, Donald, Janelle, Beth, and Franklin over for Orphan’s Christmas dinner. It was all quite fabulous – Thomas brought a turkey (brined as per Saint Alton’s instructions) and we indeed deep fried that sucker. It was pretty impressive – 375 degree peanut oil makes quite a fuss when you dip a water-laden turkey into it. But the 12.5 pound turkey was done in 40 minutes (even a bit overdone – we could have pulled it out a few minutes earlier), and it was delicious. Nice, crisp skin, moist meat, and not greasy at all (to me, anyway). I made my mom’s sausage dressing, Beth made a green bean casserole, Janelle made some mashed potatoes, and we were good to go! Sherry made some yummy peanut butter cookies with mini-Snickers in them for dessert, and Janelle also made a chocolate-Macadamia nut torte that was quite tasty as well. We sent everyone home a little before midnight, fat and happy.

And today…today we rest.

I wish all of our friends out there a joyous holiday, whichever it may be. I hope you are with ones you love, or at least in the minds and hearts of ones you love.