When the girlfriend is off at a conference and one is left alone between Christmas and New Years with her parents, what does one do with one's time? The correct answer should be that one uses all that free time to work on one's dissertation or, at the very least, read some text(s) pertaining to one's dissertation. One does not spend many idle hours gallivanting on the interwebs and playing YahooGames. Sigh. I'm useless.
Actually, despite our heinous heinous trip here and the fact that this is the first Christmas I haven't spent with my own family, Christmas was truly lovely.
April's parents spoiled me with presents (an excellent and quite useful lap-desk-thing for my laptop, stainless steel cup and table-/teaspoon measures, fancy tea, fancy lotion, a pretty blue Chinese silk toiletry bag, and a few other sundries I can't quite remember off the top of my head). Her aunts sent some very nice pajamas and lavender honey and soap and few other things all wrapped in Christmas-y tea towels in their Christmas package for me, and her brother's family gave me this gorgeous little Japanese tea set with a tiny pot and clay cups and, of course, some tea to go with it.
Not that I came empty-handed. Her father: slippers (which he's worn non-stop since Christmas day--yay) and a worst-case scenario outdoor almanac (which he read in its entirety yesterday afternoon, occasionally relaying helpful facts out loud, like how to tell which way is up if you're buried alive). Her mother: a bean-bag-type neck pillow since she always falls asleep watching tv in the strangest positions and a sporty, spring jacket in brown and seafoam green. Her brother and his partner: a Car Talk CD (he's a mechanic) and a red, Chinese silk jewelry bag. And I gave each of her brother's kids both clothes (Quiksilver shirts for the two boys and a pink monkey t-shirt for the six-year-old girl) and toys/games (a car racing game for the oldest boy to play on his new laptop, a 20-questions hand-held game and Wallace and Gromit DVD for the middle boy, and a learn-to-draw Disney princesses DVD-kit for the girl).
Now, I'm biding my time awaiting April's return. We've watched a lot of movies and her mom and I went to one of the malls today so I could look for something else for my parents. April will be back Saturday and we'll probably enjoy the Boxing Week sales with some more shopping (stupid Canadian dollar, why are you so strong?) and then celebrate New Years trying not to lose money at a casino in the city with the rest of the family.
And, to top it all off, I'll get to have a second Christmas with my parents in early January when I get back. At this rate, I'm going to get to extend the holiday right up until my birthday.
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