All I Want for Christmas

We've known we weren't going to head back to the States for Christmas since we found out about the Pickle.

I will be too close to my due date to fly for long distances, over giant spaces of water, with no drugs or hospital nearby. Not that I have any reason to believe that I will be early at all, but we (and by "we" I mean Husband, most airlines and me) don't want to take that chance.

But I love Christmas. Not for the 9,000 people in line with me at the stores or for the timely and manufactured cheer, but for the traditions.*  

But this year, it's just going to be different, so we've planned great holidays in Europe. 

Not only are we going to spend five days in Nice, but we've been celebrating in a variety of ways.

We've been to Husband's company Julebord, (literally "Christmas table") which is the holiday party.

It was a seated dinner of several hundred people.  We visited, ate pinnekjøtt (salted, smoked lamb) and were entertained by a selection of disco, country and Top 40...think "Welcome to the Jungle" sung cabaret-style.  It began with the executive board skit of the ABBA classic "Dancing Queen."

But it didn't really seem Christmas-y to me.  People were dressed up and there were sparkly lights and it was festive.  

But the only place where there was one bit of Christmas was the women's bathroom.  

In the stalls, excellence like WHAM's "Last Christmas" and "Do They Know It's Christmastime" were piped in, at an adequate sound level.  

So every time I had to go to the bathroom (which was often, based on merely being me coupled with also being 7 months pregnant) I'd just stay a while and enjoy at least an entire song.**

(In case you're curious, this is how pregnant I was that night at about 28 weeks.)

But still, in search of the Christmas spirit, I hosted my own anti-Julebord.  Most of my favorite (local)  girlfriends came over and we did not have any salted lamb. 

(Jenny and me) 

We did have wine and cheese and salad and the BigD Classic.***

(Ava, Erin and Alex----And yes, I hate the plastic bottles on the table, too, but I forgot to make salad dressing.)

(Victoria and Karen)

And,  like last year, we've even gotten a tree. 
(This is last year's tree. Husband is working on the lights and we're rocking out to carols courtesy of Frank.) 

We weren't sure if we were going to even bother this year.  We're going out of town for a few days over Christmas. And putting up and taking down a tree is kind of a hassle.  But Husband could tell I was feeling a little Christmas blue, so he organized it all.  

We got our little tree and while he turned on the carols and worked on the lights, I unpacked our box of decorations.

I opened the shells, which were a gift from Jenny, the mother of my high school boyfriend.  She is hilarious and elegant and has the most lovely handwriting ever. It had been years since her son and I were an item, and I had just graduated from college and was on my way to New York. She heard I was home for a bit and called and asked me over.  As I unwrapped the lovely box she said "You'll need this for your first Christmas in your own apartment."  And every single year, I think of her.

Whenever we go somewhere, Husband and I bring home an ornament for our tree, so it's like revisiting a little bit as we decorate. We're missing a weird folk art fish from a weekend in the mountains, but everything else is ready for the tree.

I'm trying to be looser about the placement than the Big D was.  When we were little had a specific order of ornaments.  First the birds, then the heavy glass ones, then the balls and so on....And she would sit back on the couch and direct us on where things go.  And even occasionally, we'd catch her, late at night rearranging.  

(No, I don't have weird bangs and a modified mullet.  It's really just the photo.) 

These are our first family ornaments from last year. 

Lillie loves hers.

And our Santas.

And, finally the star.
But really, as much as this Christmas is going to be great and different---we're making our own traditions and our own plans---it is just not the same.  I think it's mainly that I didn't have any Gainesvegas holidays this year.  We had planned on Thanksgiving, but family matters and job things made it all wonky and we ended up on the entire opposite side of the country, which was nice....But no fried turkey...Oh well. 

I want to have Santa to have made Husband a stocking to match all of ours ---- that are, depending on our ages or how long you've been associated with our family, almost four decades old --- red and white with sparkling sequins that my Nana made one of the first holidays after my older brother was born.

I want to turn on a radio station that has switched its format to a 24/7 Christmas music program and perform an interpretive dance with my sister to the Mariah Carey classic "All I Want for Christmas" as we sit in horrendous traffic.

I want to help Bill inject the turkey with cajun-y, butter-y goodness, so it will be perfect and juicy when it comes out of the fryer.

I want to go to the 5pm Candlelight Service so I can finally for certain get the Christmas spirit, somewhere around halfway through the second verse of "Silent Night."

I want  to sneak out with my sister for a secret bloody Mary and a stop by the quickie mart to pick up some extra goodies Santa forgot. 

And the list goes on...

But next year, we'll be there and Santa, hopefully will have remembered to make two stockings, one for Husband and the second for Pickle.

*While I am all for spontaneity, I am most in favor of the kind that comes after making a plan. I like to know what to expect, then am more than happy to deviate from the norm.

**No, I don't think anyone noticed.  And also, no, I don't care if they did.  Everyone here is pregnant all the time, so I'm sure they just ascribed it to pregnant issues or general clumsiness.

***If you've ever eaten at a dinner party I've hosted, you've probably eaten it...It's a homemade Italian pasta sauce of tomatoes, garlic, zuchinni and onions.  It's Big D's homemade goodness and is only better when Husband, Mom or Bill grills out some Dale's marinated flank steak to go along with it.