LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

I can’t believe it’s over. I wait all year for Christmas, I get one measly day off and it’s done.

Christmas Eve we went to my cousin Sue’s house. She had “Seven Fishes” Christmas Eve dinner, which is a tradition in my family. We took Thor’s parents as well, and I think they had a good time. For my pollyanna, I received a pink purse (matches my coat!) and an origami-a-day 2005 calendar.

Christmas morning we slept in until 9am. (Thor’s parents awoke earlier). I received…

• From Thor: An all-in-one printer/scanner/copier. This means I can print photos directly from the memory card, PLUS now I can bother you all by scanning in old photos and posting them on my website! But Kim…didn’t you break your digital camera? Yes…yes I did. So I’ll be printing OLD photos for a while. Oh, because I’m a pillow-addict, I also received a full-length body pillow. I’ll sleep with it when Thor’s at work. Which makes me think I should name the pillow, since it’s not nice to sleep with something/one whose name you don’t know.
• From Thor’s family: Parkview Hospital for the tiny churchless-but-full-of-Chinese-food town of Turberville; 2 DMB CDs (Remember two things and Listener Supported); Sock, a book by Penn of Penn & Teller fame.
• From Mom: A nice suit for work, a necklace, some new plates, some soap/lotion from Bath & Body works, an ornament, and I know I’m forgetting the rest….
• From John: A Mickey Mouse stuffed animal, an electric back massager for a chair, and some chocolate covered booze. I kid you not.
• From Dad: A gift certificate to the Carriage House restaurant, an ornament, and a $50 Visa gift card.
• From my fabulous coworkers: A Kim Possible snowglobe! Must…reorganize…desk…

g jersey, a workbench, and a book. Because our house is a money pit, we limited our spending this year. Which worked out well.

Christmas dinner was at Mom’s. We had turkey and ziti and meatballs and all the trimmings! AFter dinner, I played Texas Hold-em with some male family members. I kicked butt…my first time out. I think my cavalier attitude had a lot to do with the fact that it’s not real money! It was a lot of fun.

Yesterday we putzed around with the inlaws. I received a call from work because Reggie White died and the site needed updating. Then, for dinner, I headed over to Dad’s and met up with my Aunt Carol, cousin Rachel, cousin Matt, his wife Pam, and their baby Ryan.

Today, after dropping the inlaws off at the airport, Thor and I went to see Ocean’s Twelve. Although it wasn’t as good as the first one, it was still pretty snappy, and I got to see my girl-crush Catherine Zeta-Jones. She’s soooo purdy. Neat soundtrack too. The movie, not CZJ.

Is it really over??

But if we don’t mention it…they’ll feeeeeeeeeeel bad…

On Christmas Day, (link only good for a week) the Living section of my paper uploaded one short story about Christmas, and also an equal-length story on Hanukkah (which ended 11 days prior) and an equal-length story on Kwanzaa, which started the day after. I’ll have to go back and see if they ran a equal-length Christmas story on the first day of Hanukkah. I doubt it, but I may be wrong.

Thor’s parents are here, and all is well. In appreciation of their visit, Max crapped in the dining room. Lovely dog. Really. (rolls eyes)

I’m dismissing myself shortly. Nothing to do here, except surf the web. So in case I don’t have time tonight, I want to leave you with my favorite Christmas piece of writing ever. It’s only a coincidence that it’s from a newspaper.

Dear Editor,

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

With all my right-winged-nut-jobness in the post below, I forgot to give y’all a math lesson.

Edited to add: The original coat I fell in love with was cream colored, as mentioned in the previous post. I figured that the pink/blue coat would be easier to keep looking clean than cream. Same coat, different color.