We didn't do anything interesting or spectacular for the holidays. Doug does not get any vacation time until end of March, his 6 month anniversary with the new company. Actually, I don't know if he is given vacation time off the bat, or starts to earn that vacation time. There is a distinction... so I should find that out. He'd like to go on vacation or something at that point. So would I.
Right now if he takes time off, he does so with no pay. He took one day off so far, to go to my Aunt's funeral in New York. He didn't get the day after Thanksgiving off, and didn't take it unpaid, but if he had we would have gone to Pennsylvania to his uncle's big open house where all the family for generations comes to gather. This was the last year it'll happen there, since the house and the land/farm are being sold. So we missed out on that.
Jess flew down to be with us for Christmas, and we had a wonderful visit. She had just picked up her new used car, she was getting it inspected the day she went home. So much adulting.
The weather here in the DC area was very cold around Christmas but right now 20 degrees sounds delightful, as it was 6 this morning when I got up. 4 when I came home from the train last night.
Jess and I were both very disinclined to go out and do anything, and Doug didn't want to do the things I wanted to do, like go visit the Waredaca brewery and hospitality barn. He thought it was too far to go. So we pretty much sat around and did nothing. We hosted his aunt and cousin, who live over in Reston VA, and had a great dinner and nice fellowship with them.
New Year's Eve was pretty much the same. Incredibly cold, neither of us wanted to go out or do anything. Geoff was dog sitting for the neighbor so he was over there for the night. We got snacks and beer and some tropical stuff to mix with something in the cabinets, so we could imagine it being warm and wonderful. He and I settled into Netflix and Snore mode.
So Doug and went out and rescued him. A more thankful soul you've probably never known.
It was delightful to have him, and know that his fate otherwise was either a sketchy motel someplace or a night on the carpet in the corner. We had snacks and drank Dark & Stormys and didn't even notice that the midnight hour had come and was 10 minutes past us.
At 1am he noted that the airline had told him they'd call when they had a hotel for him, and here we were without a phonecall, text, or any other communication from them. We laughed and headed to bed.
It was a lovely time. And a nice way to end and begin a year. For a landmark date, in a new place, with too cold weather to go have a good time someplace, it was kind, and it was weird, and it was kind of weird. But this was a good thing to do, and I wouldn't trade it for a night out on the town.
Speaking of big night on the town...
Tonight is my husband's office holiday party. They always hold it after the new year since everyone is always too busy before the holidays (and it is super expensive to do something) so here we are, tonight tonight tonight.
The great news is he likes his job, a lot. He likes his boss a lot. He likes what he's doing and likes his coworkers. It's a real blessing. He was kind of, shall we say, miserable in the last place of employment for a lot of reasons. None of which are my story to tell really. But it is nice to have a very happy Doug in my life.
They take parties seriously at this company, he says. The holiday party usually has door prizes for best dress up for the theme. Last year was the Great Gatsby, the year before was a night on the Nile. And one of the door prizes was a 60 inch flat screen TV.
This year is Casino Royale, at a big beautiful hotel in Baltimore, complete with table games and roulette and all kinds of mock-gambling shenanigans.
Doug thought about renting a tux and being "Fat James Bond" but he is sticking with a suit, and got a cool tie with poker hands of cards on them. Campy, and totally "dad" style. I like it.
He told me I needed to dress up too, not just wear slacks and a blouse with a pretty scarf (my idea of dressing for a party)... Now, I have a hard enough time putting on decent clothes. Nothing I own fits me, and I hate going to buy new clothes because I hate everything.
I pulled out the dress I wore to Aaron's wedding rather than buy something new. Thankful that I didn't drop it off at one of the many Savers runs I made before leaving Massachusetts. I figured what would I use this for again? Well here ya go. My "work wife" found a lot of really nice things for me to wear online... but I just figured this would be easier and I knew the dress fit me. Then, she and I started buying accessories.
I bought two different clutch purses in case I hated the first one, which was a good idea since one still hasn't shown up.... Picked up two pairs of shoes, in case I hated one pair (and I did). RCJ found me a beautiful wedding shawl, fake fur but feels like rabbit. Super Score. She found a really cute silver leaf headband that would have made me look like Legolas' fat elven aunt. Unfortunately, it was sold out. So I got hair pins that are shaped like the suits in cards and will put 2 on either side of my head.
With his tie, and my hairpins, it screams Vegas, baby.
Doubtful we'll win any door prizes for our get-ups, but we'll at least look snooty snifter style. Kind of bummed that it isn't a Gatsby theme, because my sister went to a Gatsby themed party a few months ago and found all kinds of good dresses, hair things, and RCJ knows how to wig shop, so I totally would have been hooked up for some fun with that.
I posted this picture on Facebook of the gathering of items on my bed, and my friends all chimed in on how cute everything is. I'm inwardly groaning but totally love their enthusiasm for me about the occasion. Demands of selfies and pictures of me and Doug done up nice. They're so cute.
And I also love that they know me enough to know this is a kind of big deal for me to pull all this together and make the effort.
I just wish it wasn't 15 degrees out. Jesus. So cold, too cold to go out in a dress. The good news is we're staying at the hotel where the party is, so my plan is to get dressed at the hotel, and come down the stairs, and go back up the stairs, without ever freezing my feet and ass right off.
And then I can jump right back into yoga pants and a Guster T-shirt. Whew.
Here's to starting off the new year ... glamorously?
And then tomorrow. Geoff's birthday. We asked him to pick the restaurant he wants to go to for his birthday. He's been making a list of the places he's eaten, been to, so far. And I've got a few ideas. Like maybe we'll go up to Frederick or the Waredaca brewery, like I wanted to during Christmas week.
I'm kind of sad that we're not up north for this, because he has a couple friends I'm sure would take him out for his 21st, instead of having to go out with mom and dad. We were out at dinner the other night and the girl tried to take an order for a beer for him and he told her he wasn't yet 21. He looks super lumbersexual right now. Flannel and long blonde hair and a cute little beard thing. His father's son for sure.
He still hasn't found his footing here. He has a part time job, but hasn't made any friends in his age group, is still thinking about applying to the community college and missed the application deadline to start classes this semester upcoming. We'll see about getting him a little more progressed here.
And that's the 2018 update so far. Hoping all my friends in the Boston area are doing alright after that blizzard, the Bomb Cyclone, the flooding on the seaport and many of the coastal down-towns. It was weird to watch from afar, I'll tell you that.
Howling at "Legolas' fat elven aunt."
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