Christmas Eve 2008

Home for the Holidays

The Good and the Bad

The holidays can be both a wonderful time of, um, wonder. They can also be a total sh-tstorm. Amidst all the Christmas- and Hanukkah-themed postings and year-in-review listicles in the blogosphere, Gawker has a fantastic post -- it’s subtitled “Why Don’t You Just Invite the Police Over This Year?” -- that shares commenters’ stories about the holidays. Equally awesome are the further stories left below the post (note that by “awesome,” I mean that the stories are very compelling, but it don’t necessarily mean they’re upbeat). Some excerpts [sic in advance on all this stuff]:

“I recall one particular Christmas when my little sister said her stomach hurt and my mother made her go to midnight mass anyway. About 30 minutes in, she puked all over the pew and we had to leave amid lots of dirty looks. Strangely enough, the same sister is the most Catholic of all my siblings today. I guess once you puke on it, you own it.”

…

“I'll never forget Christmas 1983, when I wanted a Swatch so, so, so badly and had been begging for one forever. So I got one from my aunt and uncle and couldn't have been more excited to wear it to school after break and show all my friends. I was less excited when every one of them pointed out that it was actually a girl's swatch and teased me relentlessly. I hated third grade.”

…

“When I was eight, my family had a hermit crab and it escaped in October. We figured it was dead and my mom had thrown it out and just didn't want to tell us. Cue to Christmas day: we are opening our presents and my dog walks up, drops the hermit crab in my sister’s lap and leaves the room. Apparently my dog had been carrying around the hermit crab on and off for 2 months and decided to give it back for Christmas.”

…

“My two-year-old niece did announce on Christmas Day after services that she'd ‘seen [my] boobies and that they were bigger than Mommy's’ to a crowd of about 15 people (I had been babysitting her that week and had to lock her in the bathroom with me while I showered). I was 15, and the mortification lingers to this day.”

Birthday!

Had a terrific birthday this year, including a fun happy hour with The Band, dinner at the new posh sushi place in downtown (which was beautiful, but the sushi was just "meh") and some great prezzies!

Dad and Bunny got me another Bachman's gift card (YAY!! it's so nice to dream about gardening with the weather so cold), which came with tons of balloons ...


... so I tied them to furniture all around the house. :)

Mom and Bill, along with Mike and Laura (who had already given me an awesome Cupcake Royale tee to match Addie's) gave me lots of sheet music for the piano!! In addition to the staff paper (so I can transcribe things into different keys or score out stuff by ear, which I've been doing a bit) from Mom, I also got:

• Radiohead's Kid A ("Everything in its Place" seems perfect for piano);
• The U2 Piano Collection (ditto "Sweetest Thing"); and
• The Beatles' Best, an "easy piano" collection of Beatles songs (really nice because the "real" version of "You Never Give Me Your Money" was making me pull my hair out!).

Thanks, everyone! :)

This, Santa, Is What We Call A "Turbine"

"Slings" on Sundance

The Gray Lady reports that "Slings & Arrows" -- arguably one of the funniest Shakespeare-related things ever written -- is being rerun on the Sundance Channel. I've watched the DVDs of the series so many times that I may soon have to replace them. In season one of the show, explains the NYT:

Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross) ... is New Burbage’s interim artistic director. He inherited the job after his drunken predecessor, Oliver Welles, was run over by a ham truck. Now he must direct an illiterate teen idol from Hollywood as Hamlet while dealing with egomaniacal actors, directors — and Oliver (Stephen Ouimette), who keeps showing up to chat, just like Hamlet’s ghost.

Good stuff. :) Catch it if you can.

T-Day Highlight

The best part of yesterday's Thanksgiving gathering at Aunt Loretta's? Hanging out with Maddie, pictured below.

Expo Doggies!

M worked the semi-annual Midwest Mountaineering Expo over the weekend, which included the usual allotment of adorable huskies for rescue, as well as other dogs brought by their owners to be fitted for boots or skijoring equipment. Thanks to M's iPhone, I got a great look at these puppies even though I was at home.

This is Akira.

Here are some dogs from the Adopt-A-Husky group.

Check out the size of this dog -- his head is taller than these two humans' waists!

Out of the Blue, A Piano (Chapter 3)

Here's the foyer before.
Hauling are Paul (who is remarkably strong!), Mason, next-door Tim, Midwest Mountaineering Peter, and Mason's dad, hidden behind Peter.
Here are Phyllis and Paul (Phyllis is Grandma Sue's niece).
Check out the awesome piano stool!
It's a perfect fit.Bonus history lesson: As the piano was being moved in, out fell this tiny button from the 1927 Hoover-Curtis presidential campaign.
And taped to the back of the piano was a small piece of yellowing paper, on which was typed:

An item from the Dec. 28, 1902, paper: Miss Kate Plummer [M's paternal great-grandmother] surely got on the right side of Santa Claus. A brand new piano is a gift that Santa doesn't bring to everybody.

Out of the Blue, A Piano (Chapter 2)

Now, how to get the piano here from Iowa? Paul was hoping to have it out of his house before snow. Mason start talking about a road trip with some guys to help him bring it back when the e-mail below arrived.

__________________________________

From: Paul
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 3:06:04 PM

Mason,

I have another option, that is if you like it. I am willing to look into the cost of renting a U-haul trailer, and to get help locally to load the piano and drive my pickup and trailer to your place, for I also have a roto tiller that needs to go to my daughter's house in Cottage Grove. I will get back to you soon. Paul

____________________________________

From: Mason

Sent: November 20, 2008 3:42 PM

Paul,

You are amazing! That would be great. Let me know how I can help coordinate. Thanks,

Mason

Soon, everything was arranged. The piano was to arrive less than fifteen days from the original conversation with Mike.

____________________________________

From: Laura

Sent: November 22, 2008 05:56 PM

Hi Paul -- this is Mason's wife, Laura. First, let me thank you for the piano and let you know how really excited I am about this! ... Glad to hear this process has gone well on your end. Again, I'm so excited about this and really honored to be taking care of such an important piece of Lewis family history. Thank you very much. Looking forward to meeting you tomorrow!

Laura Sorenson

____________________________________

From: Paul
Sent: Sat November 22, 2008 7:03 PM

Laura,

Great to meet you. I am so looking forward to seeing you in person tomorrow. I know only a little about Mason and everything is fantastic. Honors received, academic record, travels around the world, etc. So, since you are the person he chose to marry, (oops, it could have been the other way around - rather mutual, whatever), you will be the perfect person to continue to enjoy what was given to Kate by her parents when she was a girl of 18! ... See you tomorrow! Paul and Phyllis

Out of the Blue, A Piano (Chapter 1)

While we were playing in the music room in Seattle, Michael asked me whether I still had a piano. (We’d had a small upright in the house growing up that I used to play, and I brought it to college with me my sophomore year. But it was prohibitively expensive to move -- I ended up switching apartments quite a bit in college -- and I eventually sold it one year to help with tuition. )

I told Mike that I didn’t have it anymore and he said that was a shame, that he thought I’d really enjoy just noodling on it if I still had it around. I hadn’t thought about it in ages, but it felt like he was right.

“Maybe you want to keep an eye on Craig’s List,” he suggested. Sure, why not, I thought. I mentioned it to Mason on the flight home and then sort of forgot about the whole thing.

Lo and behold, a mere three days later, this e-mail string with the Lewises (Mason’s paternal grandmother’s family) kicks off.

____________________________________

From: Paul

Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 8:13 AM

Calling all Lewis'

I do not have any use for Grandma Lewis' upright piano anymore and hope someone will want it. ... I'd like to hear from you ASAP if you want it, for I will be moving it soon ...

Paul, the one who married well....that is when I picked Phyllis from the Lewis clan

____________________________________

From: Grandma Sue

Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 11:38 AM

It will be wonderful if someone in the family would want the piano. It was given to Grandma Kate Lewis when she was 18 years old - from her parents. ... I took piano lessons when I was in 9th grade - so I played it a bit. Every once in a while Mother would sit down and play hymns.

Sue

____________________________________

From: M

Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 4:13 PM

Hi Paul,

Laura and I might be interested. Laura grew up with a piano in the house. We would need to find a place in our house - could you send the measurements? ... If one of the real pianists in the family is excited to have it, go for it.

Thanks,
Mason

Another cousin named Ilo expressed interest, so everyone exchanged some more e-mails, including this one:

____________________________________

From: Paul
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 7:52:43 PM

Mason,

Thanks for the note. I will trust Ilo to let you know her decision, but if not, I will certainly be in touch with you. Paul P. S. I now see even more evidence of why your Gandma is so proud of you.

Ilo later responded that although she’d be interested at first, her son and yellow lab both expressed concern, so the piano was ours if we wanted it. Woo hoo!

Newly Updated Neighbors

Welcome, Franklin!

Our newest Awesome NeighborTM, Franklin -- heretofore glimpsed only in hiding (or as part of a Juno costume)-- arrived around 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. Seza was in labor for about 30 hours (!!) before the team decided that a C-section would be necessary. Both mother and baby are doing fine, although Franklin has a minor infection, which the doctors tell Tim is no big deal.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Franklin!

Rahm Emmanuel Roasts Stephen Colbert

... at a charity event for the Spina Bifida Association; check out the video (a bit bumpy but still really funny) at HuffPo.

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Seattle 08: Hat Tricks