You better love somebody. It's late.

Whew! We made it through another winter holiday season with our sanity still somewhat intact. I made it through all of the necessary cooking and baking, despite having a cluster of disasters at every single turn. Somehow the food was all edible and gave no hint at the trauma I suffered in making it. We had our traditional xmas eve meal of pasta, 'meatballs', and gravy. We take that to the family party at my mom's. Then I made up a 'meatloaf', which my mom cooks for the xmas day family meal. Next was the tofu scrambler dish and the bisquits and gravy we have for xmas breakfast. Of course we had to have some sweets to calm my vicious sweet tooth, so I made another batch of my favorite cupcake from the "Vegan Cupcakes" book--the mint chocolate cupcake. I also threw together a batch of puppy chow (or muddy buddies).

We have very set-in-stone family traditions that we do every year with only minor variations. Before we hit our first big family party at my mom's on xmas eve, my cousin Denny and his wife come over for drinks. Initially we started the tradition a zillion years ago, because certain family members who would attend the party are much more bearable after a few drinks. Those individuals have either stopped attending or become more tolerable, but we continue the tradition, because we enjoy having time together. Dej and her boyfriend, Joe, joined us for drinks this year. We were having such a great time that we lost track of time and didn't notice until about 4:20 (LOL), and we were supposed to be there at 4:00. That's also an annual occurence--the lateness of Denny and my families. Oops! We loaded up all our food and headed to my parents' house for the festitivities with my mom's side of the family. I believe I've done this every xmas eve since I was born. The party has had different locations throughout the years, but it always happens. My brother and his family always come to this party, but since they now live in Appleton, they return home afterward and do not come on xmas day.

When we return home from the party, our traditions is that each girl gets to open one gift. It is always socks, undies, pajamas, or something of that nature. Dej and Joe stayed over night at our house. This was the last night she would be spending in town before her move to Fond du Lac. She has transferred colleges and will be attending there next semester. I'm not thrilled about this move at all and feel it will not turn out well. I hope I'm wrong. I do think, though, that she needs to be on her own for a while. She is already sounding and behaving in ways that are more mature and responsible than I usually see from her. Being on her own will, I think, turn out to help her grow up much more than living under my domain. I'm a very strong, controlling person (with my kids, anyway), so it's easy to NOT grow up with me around and my parents always being willing to bail her out of any situation. I wish she could live on her own and grow up in Janesville, or at least someplace closer than Fond du Lac. I'm sure this is just one of many decisions she will make that I do not agree with. It's really hard to make the transition from seeing my child as an adult, rather than my child! UGH! Cthulu knows I made my parents watch oh-so-many bad decisions in my growing up process. Now it's my turn.

We were up much too late on xmas eve, as usual, and I had a hard time getting up in time to get breakfast ready for everyone. I have very unique children, in that they've never been early risers on xmas morning. I, being a night person and NOT a morning person, have always appreciated that my night owls never did what my brother and I did as children. We would be up somewhere around 4 or 5 am, ready to dive into our presents. My parents had to make a rule that we had to stay in our rooms until--I think--6:00. I had breakfast on the table and my parents arrived at around 9. Both children were still sleeping. I woke them up for breakfast, and after that we move to the presents. We all cut way back this year, partially due to the economic situation and largely because I am really trying to get rid of STUFF and simplify our lives. It was especially great to have less wrapping to do--a chore that both Mark and I hate. The kids still got more than enough stuff, so no complaints from them. Everyone got along and was pleasant. It was the first holiday that we have had an 'outsider' join our family xmas, so that was very different for us. I'm sure Joe won't be the last boyfriend that Dej brings to holiday celebrations. As long as I have both of our kids there, that's all that really matters!

After our big xmas morning stuff, M. & I went up for a quick catnap, while L. played with her new stuff. Dej and Joe left to go back to Fond du Lac to have their own 'grown-up' xmas. That left the three of us to continue on to my parents' again for xmas dinner with my dad's side of the family (which only consists of dad's brother and his wife). In recent years, though, my mom's sister and her partner have joined us for the xmas dinner. I'll never complain about Bobbi (mom's sis) being around, as she's my favorite aunt and I'm always happy to see her. After Bobbie & Todd left to go to their next holiday celebration, the rest of us relaxed, chatted, and watched "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", which is something we watch almost every year together. Our family and Norm and Ruth left to go to our respective homes at around 10. It was an action-packed couple of days!

L's big gift was an Ipod Shuffle (the cute, tiny one) and an Icat. She loaded it up with music and has been entertaining us with her Icat's dancing and her gymnastic performances for the past two days. I have to admit, that Icat is pretty cool! She got some very nice, thoughtful gifts from Dej, which made me so happy. It's not that I care about the gifts, but L. so looks up to Dej and is absolutely tickled with any attention from her big sister. Dej, in the selfishness kids that age are prone to, hasn't always been thoughtful or kind to L. L. felt very special after receiving the gifts and getting lots of good attention and interaction from Dej. Dej's big gift consisted of gift cards to various places that she would find helpful in establishing her own household. Oh, get this, the sloppiest, messiest girl alive now wants to keep her own apartment clean and tidy! I wish the clean and tidy Dej could have appeared here, just once in the course of her 18.5 years, but better late than never!

The cats are convinced that all of the wrapping paper, boxes, bows, etc. are their gifts. They really wear themselves out playing with our xmas refuse. Scraps the bunny is still hanging in there and has been eating very well. She inhales her hand-feeding mix, her medications, and is eating her fresh fruits and veggies. I don't know how long she will be with us, but we are grateful for every day we get!

The holidays were really wonderful, except for the ache in my heart over my best friend's suffering. Her partner was in a bad car accident and injured quite badly on Monday night. He was finally able to come home Christmas evening, but is in significant pain. He will be unable to work (and thus make money) for quite a long time, due to his injuries. I HATE that Austin and Allegrea have to go through such a horribly difficult time--they are some of the most wonderful people alive and are always trying to make the world better and help others. It sucks to be helpless and unable to fix things for them. All I could do is take them lots of good vegan food, so she doesn't have to worry about cooking or shopping. I so wish I could make the whole mess go away for them!

L. and I had a great bonding experience. I was cruising Netflix last night, looking for something M. & I would enjoy that we could watch instantly. I found that "Under the Cherry Moon" was available to watch online. Unless you have loved and followed Prince for most of your life, you have probably not heard of this movie. It was after "Purple Rain". Of course I've already watched Purple Rain with both girls multiple times, as we own that movie. I really liked "Under the Cherry Moon" but it's not available locally as a rental, and I had never thought to check Netflix for it. I love that movie, not necessarily because it's a fabulous high-quality movie, but more for nostalgic reasons. I absolutely adore everything about the pre-religious-freak Prince. The Prince of today, well, not so much. Anyway, L & I watched it together. She enjoyed it, and I loved that she did. I don't think Dej has watched it with me, as it was never available, and that is something that I must fix as soon as possible. I cried at the end, just as I do every single time I watch it. Her response to the kissing love scene: "I find it quite disgusting when they put they're tongue in someone's mouth". Good, baby! You should find it quite disgusting, at least for another 7 or 8 years, I hope!