Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Mom really wanted me to go to Bowie early, but I wound up not feeling well enough to drive until too late to go there first, so I went straight to Rockville about forty minutes later than I was supposed to have been there (but still in time for dinner *whew*), feeling a little marginal for driving along the way. But hey, I got there, and I got to be with family (blood and in-laws) and eat yummy food on Christmas day. Everybody but my mother liked my outfit (black velour long-sleeve top large enough to be a little loose and drape-y, and a skirt with alternating tiers of brown velour and, brown-on-brown uh (have to ask someone what it's called) Jacquard, with black opaque hose and low (two inch?) black pumps. Enamel guitar earrings (that look like Martin dreadnaughts) and the fancy crucifix my godmother gave me (black cross, silver Christ figure, gold halo and inscription, silver filigree points extending past the ends of the cross, all in all larger than crosses I usually wear other than the pewter one I wear when I'm in garb) -- I'd been planning to wear the bright green jingle-bell that a stranger gave me at the Baltimore Aquarium (on a string around my neck), because I know my brother's mother-in-law apreciates such things, but forgot to take it with me.) . Mom said I was naughty and deserved coal for Christmas, but others disagreed, and three people wanted to know where I got the skirt (which I've had long enough to have forgotten the name of the store where I bought it).

Christmas dinner-and-hanging-out was fun. Not as much fun as it would have been if I'd gotten there earlier and felt better, but enough fun to distract me from how I was feeling physically at least part of the time. I tasted the egg nog (about half an ounce of it) and agreed that it was Most Tempting Nog, but the way I was feeling, I dared not add alcohol to the equation. Ah well. I took along my prettiest (though least useful) guitar to show to my brother ... and an amplifier which I couldn't use because I forgot the patch cable (by the front door, right next to the green jingle bell). But it's a hollowbody (archtop electric twelve-string, and did I mention pretty?) so I was able to play it audibly to people right next to me. Did some guitar/vocal jamming with my brother's father-in-law after dinner -- he made up entertaining words on the fly. He asked what the most complex tune I knew was, and we decided to use "has the most finger movement in it" as the definition of "most complex" for the evening, so I played "Talk to My Guitar", which has chord-as-fast-as-I-can sections for the intro and instrumental break. But I stumbled on the words (which I wrote). When he asked whether I knew a love song, I did "Unnatural Love", and tripped over the last verse. Obviously I have not been practicing my own songs enough recently. When I was summoned to the computer to troubleshoot a problem that fixed itself as I walked into the room, I showed some folks my LiveJournal -- the Wright Brothers centennial had come up in conversation at dinner and I wanted to show my entry about that to my brother, and I wanted to let my in-laws see what I'd written about Thanksgiving.

Oh, and when I commented that I'd forgotten the flashy festive bit (that green jingle bell), my brother's mother-in-law said not to worry, 'cause that'd be fixed. I got flashy glass-bead earrings as a gift (that make noise when I shake my head). I also picked up a nice wooden picture frame in the "gift brawl", one of my brother's gave me an air mattress that'll come in handy to replace the terribly leaky one at Pennsic, and Mom gave me a bathrobe (which I need) and sheets, plus money to help deal with getting my uncle's Honda all legal-in-Maryland and registered to me, and my brother and sister-in-law gave me a photo of myself, my mother, my sister, and both brothers, from their wedding -- in a nice metal frame. For a year when I really wasn't even thinking about receiving gifts, hey, not bad, eh? I had a conversation about religion and spirituality (we started with the nature of God) with my sister-in-law's grandfather after dinner. I forget what all we talked about during dinner, but I remember parts of it being amusing. Oh, at some point we talked about houses, and about my grandparents, and my mother told the story of my grandfather's brass and silver (which I mentioned in my journal recently), and how everyone connected wanted Something Granddad Made, for reasons pretty much the same as my own. I thought about the recent complaint that I "sell my house short" in my journal, so I tried to focus on the good things about it in conversation. Basically, it was ... well, what a relaxed but well-fed Holiday Family Gathering should be. I'm glad I managed to get there despite how poorly I was feeling earlier.

Then I drove to anniemal's (where I'm typing this), but I'm not sure I really should've been on the road the way I was feeling ... I got here safely, but the way I felt while driving was a little scary. (After getting tired of watching me sway on my feet, anniemal insisted I sit down. I knew I was feeling wobbly but hadn't realized I was visibly wobbly.)

So I did have a merry Christmas, and an earlier dilemma sort of got resolved by default, and although I didn't get to make the set of Christmas long distance phone calls I would have liked to, I did get to spend the holiday in the company of people I really like and feel comfortable around (and get to spend tonight likewise). I hope everyone else who celebrated a holiday today had at least as good a day (minus the feeling-wobbly part).

And to all, a good night. ;-)