Bearshorty's musings

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it!

I didn't grow up with Christmas. Our main holiday was New Year with a New Year tree and decorations and presents on New Years morning. We dressed up in costumes in school before the winter holidays started right before the New Year and Ded Moroz came with chocolates and candy. I didn't know anything about Christmas as a child (or too much abut Hanukkah either).

New Year continues to be important to me and I still get presents from my parents then (and give my presents to Tanya) but my in-laws are Catholic and Christmas is very important to them. I have been celebrating Christmas with Bear's family for a very long time, so it became traditional to me. Bear and I split our presents to each other, some on Christmas and some on New Years. We spend Christmas with my in-laws and New Year with my parents.

When Bear was a small child, around 10, he was awake on Christmas early but couldn't open his presents yet since everyone was asleep. So to pass the time he started making pancakes. Pancake breakfast became a tradition. Usually he makes pancakes and I make scrambled eggs, turkey sausage and bacon (I don't eat bacon myself, though). This year Carrie, Bear's sister made the sausage and bacon since Tanya was keeping me busy. But Tanya did help mw mix the scramped eggs, so we all did something. Tanya ate two little pancakes too.

Before the breakfast, Tanya came downstairs to find her new little table and chairs with a little dollhouse from her grandparents and then she opened her present from Santa - a little stuffed Elmo. She really had fun playing with the dollhouse today. She doesn't understand the concept of presents yet but she did have fun with new toys and crayons. Her Aunt Carrie even got her a Star Wars coloring book so Papa could have some fun too.

After pancakes and potty time, I gave Bear his presents - the new Jim Butcher book, which I want to read at some point too (Bear loves Dresden Files so I thought he would like it), a CD of piano music and a videogame. He got me Hamilton soundtrack (which I told him quite explicitly I wanted to open on Chtistmas; it was number one on my wish list) and Ravenclaw knee socks.

I already downloaded Hamilton to my computer and put it on my iPod. The annoying thing was that the CDs didn't come with automatic track titles and it took me forever to type them manually to iTunes. By despite that annoyance, I'm super excited to listen to the whole thing instead of bits and pieces. I'm also about 450 pages into the Hamilton book, hoping to finish it soon.

Tanya had a nice long nap while I read my Kindle. Bear and his family went to church. I used to go with them in the past - I like observing other's religious rituals sometimes - but I do prefer reading a book and Tanya really needed her nap.

After nap and some more food, we started exchanging presents around 4pm. It usually takes a while since we open presents one by one.

Christmas Loot:
The latest Coldplay CD, "Gratitude" by Oliver Sacks (his last 4 short essays. I already read the whole thing. It made me want to cry), "Are You My Mother?" by Alison Bechdel, a pie plate for baking pies, a scarf, dangly earings and gloves, and a soft blanket for Bear and I.

We had Christmas dinner and then we put Tanya to bed. I just snuck out to have some apple pie and tea and ended up reading some of the Bechdel book. I couldn't help myself.

I've been cross stitching this week, usually in the evening once Tanya is asleep or in a spare moment here and there in the last few days. I'm trying to get as much done as I can over the winter break.
It's not a big project, 5x7 birth record, and I love the bright colors. I also watched 'Love Actuslly' this week while cross stitching. Since I know that movie by heart I didn't have to actively watch it, so it was perfect as background. I did find that it's starting to lose a bit of magic, though, and I'm not sure why.

We went to Brooklyn this morning. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go but then I know my grandmother was not feeling too well and I thought I should see her. She is going to the doctor tomorrow and dedushka thinks she will be admitted to the hospital. I think he is right because her breathing was a bit strenuous and she looked very tired. She tried to pass it off like she always does, because she never likes to talk about how she is feeling or what the doctors say, but I could see it. I hate that the snow has disrupted our plans to meet with my cousins because I think she really wants this but, hopefully, she can get better.

My parents like to lease a new car every few years so today we said goodbye to our old black Jetta and say hello to our new silver Jetta. They do like the german engineering. It is pretty.

I never get tired of “Love Actually.” I wanted to be in the Christmas mood, so I watched it again. That is just such a great movie. Even upon the umpteenth viewing I’m catching nuances.

“Mad Men” came up on my Netflix queue and tried it out. I reserve complete judgment until I’ll see the whole first season but so far I like it. Like it not love it. I’m having a bit of trouble distinguishing some of the characters from one another and understanding all their jobs but the main character is interesting. We’ll see. Seeing sexism and sexual harassment of the 60s is actually very interesting and it serves a great reminder of how far women and the expectations about women have actually come. I am glad I grew up in Soviet Union though, where at least the culture nominally told for seventy years how men and women are equal. For all disparities in political roles of men and women, I never felt limited in my options just because I was a girl..