Christmas Is Closer Than You Think

I ate my lunch in my car today; it's been cold out, but the car is warm in the sun, and it's peaceful* there. (The area where I usually eat has light traffic passing through, and sometimes meetings going on, so it's less peaceful than I sometimes need.) Of course, I didn't want to go inside when it was time (though of course I did). This afternoon I started to think about what I would like to do instead. Not grand if-I-win-the-lottery planning, but just a bonus gift of time one afternoon. I wouldn't want to go home, because tonight was stitch and bitch and I wanted to go (particularly after having missed last week's with that migraine) but I find it very difficult to go out again once I'm home. What came to mind was going to Starbucks, getting a drink**, and knitting. Sounds nice and peaceful, in a final-countdown-to-Christmas season such as this.

*Particularly in retrospect, like this afternoon, when I could hear a woman three desks away eating something very, very crunchy***. Chomp, chomp, chomp.
**Mum? We're going to a Starbucks while you're here. Caramel brulée frapucchino. Woo.
***Shared workplace tip: try to avoid foods that might make your coworkers want to ask, "What in HELL are you eating? Rocks?"

The thought crossed my mind this morning that the list of things I'd like to get done this week would be much more manageable if I didn't have to work. But it's hard enough to pay the bills with a paycheck coming in, eh? And I am trying to differentiate between things that I really have to do, or at least that it would make my life easier later if I do now, versus things I'd like to get done, but world won't end if they're delayed.

Saturday I went down to Rhode Island to go with friends to an artists' holiday show and a Christmas concert. It was a fun day, but a late night (home after midnight, bed after 1), and I was tired yesterday and am again today*. Still, lots of fun, and worth it! (Yawn.) I got a few things at the art show (2 gifts, and one thing for me, probably my usual ratio), and enjoyed looking at all the wonderful pottery and jewelry and wood and paintings and ornaments and and and. We had an excellent late lunch at a place called Red Stripe (get the fries! or frites, as they call them), and then back to J's house and we hung out, another friend helping her with a task on the computer, mostly just sitting around talking and (in my case) knitting.

*Also, mysteriously, my left arm was very, very sore yesterday, and is still very sore today. Like I carried something big and heavy for a long time. I was carrying my purse and coat at the fair, and the shopping basket, but nothing I bought was heavy, and I can't figure it out.

In the evening, we were off to our regular get-in-the-holiday-mood event, the concert at Salve Regina University. (We stopped at Whole Foods on our way and picked up desserts. Eclair. Yum.) It's a fun thing to do, though I felt many of the selections this year had a somewhat downbeat feel. I may not be religious, but I've been exposed to it plenty over the years, and Christmas isn't the "He died for your sins" season, it's "Unto us a child is given" or as my friend said, "joy to the world". Let's have some cheer!

And each year they do this, so each year I will complain about it: just because your group can sing a song, and even sing it well, does not mean it belongs in the Christmas concert. Example A this year? "Single Ladies." Because nothing says Christmas like Beyoncé. Or a group of woman at a Catholic university singing about the man on their hip, or whatever it is.

But anyway. They did a really nice job overall, including a particularly upbeat non-Catholic song (props for that, Salve), and the setting is beautiful and the weather could have been much worse, so overall thumbs up.

Here's the program, if you want to see (click for bigger).
Right now I'm cracking up to Straight No Chaser's 12 Days mashup again (as I mentioned last year).



Unrelated:
Today at work, someone put out a candy item from a totally unexpected holiday. Any guesses what it was?