Boxing Day

I think Boxing Day has something to do with charity. Not for me, however. We have a Boxing Day party to go to tonight. It is about frivolity, I think. Maybe Boxing Day should be about boxing up the decorations like the ones on this table with the fast-failing plants. Plants don't live here. We cycle through fresh flowers but plants are doomed in our care. Anyway, now the decorations are just a burden, something to be put away until they, maybe, come out next year. I have to go through the cards and annual letters, too, and toss most of them. I keep neat ones to put out next year. Every year fewer and fewer actually arrive in the mail.

I wrote a year-end letter. So far I've sent 54 of them. We received 50 cards and letters (that weren't from businesses or charities).

My husband and I exchanged gifts yesterday. He gave me a lovely wool scarf. I gave him an expensive tie he'd admired when shopping for a sports coat at his favorite store. (Which was really one of his 'presents.') But we each had a surprise for Christmas Day.

Spent all day inside. We watched "Five Came Back" on Netflix. It is about five Hollywood directors who went into the service in WWII to make films: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. The series is based on a book by the same name. (Which we've owned for ages but neither of us has read.) We watched "Giant" which we have on DVD. It's a holiday tradition with us and, although it's not a Christmas movie, it has a great Christmas scene. That is a movie George Stevens made after he came back. Then we found we could stream "The Best Years of Our Lives" on some service that streams free with random commercials inserted. That is a movie William Wyler made after he came back.

We had banana 'pancakes' (actually banana and egg mixture fried up) and bacon (which we rarely eat at home) for brunch and taco chicken nachos for dinner. (Chicken cooked in taco seasoning atop cheese and onions with jalapenos.) I had one Manhattan and some nuts while watching all that tube.

I woke up today determined to 'get stuff done.' I wrote a couple more letters, worked crosswords and Ken-Ken and such in the papers, read some sections of the papers, drank four cups of coffee and it's getting toward eleven. I haven't been keeping a daily for Holidailies, but I don't really regret it. I have at least done more than since the last Holidailies. Now...to pay some bills!

The Tyranny and Joy of Stuff

Does it count if I *think* about blogging Holidaily? I started to write about 'stuff' and gifts and all that a few days ago. I decided to go back in the archives and read about, well, stuff from the past. This was fun but led to no new writing. This picture is of one section of a vitrine table in our living room. It has some old bendable toys in it. (Including a pipe cleaner version of me, created by a friend.) I collected bendables very actively for a while and decorated my office with them when I worked. Our Christmas decorations are, to a large extent, bendable Christmas figures. Santas, mostly, but also a few reindeer, snowmen, trees and such.

I've been working on my financial life. And that is boring. I have to prepare certain tax documents in January and have been running those numbers. I am preparing a new budget for the new year so that we can bust that budget by eating out too much, traveling too much, giving away too much and, of course, buying too many books.

We really don't want too much stuff. It mostly gets in the way. Of course, I do enjoy looking at all the little Santas and such this time of year and enjoying the pretty glassware and such all the time. But, of course, there is the dusting. You have to dust stuff.

That's all I've got. Tomorrow I'm going to talk about gifts. Gifts given. Gifts gotten. Successes. Maybe some failures.

Christmas and Other Musings

I feel sure I've posted this on some blog in the past. I'm determined to put up an entry today. I have been remiss. I just didn't have it in me. I had time, but I spent it otherwise.

I've been thinking about blogging, though, and thinking of tons of things to say when I do. I can't think of any of them now.

Man, I loved Christmas as a kid. I liked the presents, sure, although there were always some disappointments. I liked the fact that the family got together. I'd see cousins. Maybe my grandmother would make homemade rolls and cinnamon rolls. (Nobody did it better. Her giblet gravy was transcendental, too.) I like picking out gifts and surprising people, too. I liked the music. I liked decorating the tree.

This scene is from the house we lived in from 1958-1966. Not a long time, but important because it was most of my school years.

We have exactly two presents here now and our tree is tiny. (We each got the other person a surprise.)

Stuff is mostly in my way these days. I dug out my collection of (mostly) bendable posable Chrismas figures and put them around the apartment.  We put up the cards we receive on a screen in the kitchen. But there is none of that excitement like that tree above generated. We have gotten a few things and deemed them Christmas presents for each other that aren't surprises. He got a sport coat. I got a calendar. I'm going to get a portable charge bar (that allegedly won't overcharge one's gadgets)  to go beside my chair in the living room.

Oh, yeah, 'my chair.' I have this idea for a documentary where we interview people in their chairs. All us old folks have one, surrounded by our necessities: tissues, remotes, pens, etc. You've seen these in set dressing in movies. Anyway, it seemed like a good idea when I thought of it.

One thing I've been doing instead of blogging is looking at this site which I discovered from reading this post on Holidailies. So Holidailies is not a total loss for me in spite of my refusal to write anything coherent or enlightening.

Progress

I feel like I should always have a picture with these entries. Since I'm not posting an entry of my black eye, I just added this picture with my husband in the lobby of the Fairmont where there are giant nutcrackers, apparently made from cake and macarons. Pushing the boundaries of gingerbread creations, I guess.

I was a little bit productive today. I tidied up and cleaned some surfaces that I was going to put decorations on. I got decorations out of storage but didn't do anything with them. Other than that, I've just eaten (lunch: tortilla with chicken, cheese, guac, and hot sauce and half a banana; dinner: soup and a grilled cheese sandwich). And read papers and watched TV. Oh, and I've checked out the progress of my black eye (it gets worse before better, right, although the swelling is gone).

And that's about it. And I'm going to go back to the TV and newspapers.

Oh...and I pulled out the leaf in the dining table and got out a jigsaw puzzle. Because it's a holiday tradition, damn it!

Holiday Pressure

Parties, presents, decorations, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday. Pressure, deadlines. Get those gifts in the mail, make your plans for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve.

Really I don't feel pressure to do much of anything. I resent all the 'last chance' sales filling my inbox for black Friday (extended!) and giving Tuesday. I never give on giving Tuesday. We have an organization here in Austin called I Live Here/I Give Here. They organize this one day of giving in the spring. All kinds of matches and contests arranged. But they, of course, take a cut. I refuse to give in this time. Just say, sorry, I'll give money in a calm and unhurried manner when I am ready. And don't get me started on GoFundMe and facebook giving. I was once discussing online with a local director of a non-profit long ago about the reasons that stymy fundraising. I suggested 'donor fatigue.' You are wearing me out emailing, calling, mailing expensive promotional pieces. Often without regard to what I've already given or committed to give. So, that's my bah humbug of the season.

Today was just the perfect weather for tennis. I had on sweatpants, a sweatshirt and another jacket. Cool and sunny. No wind at all. Never sweated, never took off the jacket. Later in the day, it warmed up and we walked to the post office and the drug store. Barely needed a jacket. Besides doing those errands, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from tennis. (And purchased salad dressing, salsa, jalapenos, tortilla chips, an apple, two bananas, some guacamole.) I have to drive to tennis because the club where I play is four miles away. I got the bad news that the two younger women we play with on Tuesday are going to quit playing with us to do an activity that they think will make them better players. Ha. My other companion, who is 88, was not pleased but looked resigned.

Except for the shopping errands, I didn't accomplish much today. I'm hoping to do some cleaning tomorrow and then get out some Christmas decorations. Maybe. We have evening plans every other night until Sunday. I just keep procrastinating. There is more time to get these things done, so I take it. I've planned some trips, though. I wonder how many more years we will be up for trips? Especially to Europe?

And that's my ramble. I'm going to get stuck into my finances and bill paying for an hour or so.

Boxing Day

I guess I should box up these guys and send them back to storage. That's not what boxing day is all about. And I'm also not doing that yet. We haven't had a single person over while the decorations have been out. We have one friend coming over tomorrow. I'm going to leave it all up so someone sees it in person (and not just my friends in cyberspace).

A bit of depression has set in. Boxing day is about giving to the less fortunate? Or the elites casting stuff off to their workers? Well, I'm definitely very lucky. We can weather the stock market faltering. We have some income, no debt. But we've already given (or at least placed on credit cards) our giving for the year. (And to continue to not have debt I have to pay those off shortly.) It's not the stock market's decline or the state of the world that gets to me. It's just all these ridiculous tax forms and such. And, oh, by the way, be sure to send in your quarterly payment to the IRS by January 15. Are those guys even there to acknowledge it? I usually do it online and presume that will work.

My annual meet-up with girlfriends has been thrown into disarray. The organizer can't make it. This is the frequent status of this particular get-together. Oh. Well. Finally, it's moved to Sunday at a new venue, but one we've been to as a group many times.

We are going to a Boxing Day party tonight. It is a great group of people, young and old. Many talented creative types. At the home of a stellar cook with a master chef son-in-law. That will be fun.

I need to do some tidying and cleaning before the friend comes over tomorrow night. I'm just going to hit the high points and hide the mess. I have all this time, but how do I spend it? Reading. Mostly papers. (Although I'm quite a way through a small book I bought myself for Christmas.) We also listened to a lot of music yesterday. And drank Bloody Marys. Leading to a nap or two, maybe. We watched a bunch of Brit Crime drama, too.

I'm just rambling today. I'm going to keep doing that. Today. Maybe past the Holidailies end. (January 1.) It's helpful, somehow. I've also been reading other people's entries. I used to really rely on that. But now there is also Facebook to allow you to see other people's travels, troubles, etc.

I failed to post this before the day was out. I had to shower. I had to go to a party. There was quite an impressive thunderstorm (although we missed the worst of it going and coming to the party). The party was great. Good food. Booze. Multiple generations of friends.

Spent the rest of the evening watching Brit Crime and getting alerts about lightning on my phone. Which I really didn't need because I could see and hear a lot of the storm. Fell asleep with my book with the rain still coming down. It was an unusual storm for winter.

So I'll post this. Maybe I'll do a few more of these before Holidailies is over. Will I reach beyond that? Maybe not. There are all those tax forms....

All is Merry and Calm

We are here, surrounded by books and Christmas figures. Since early this morning we've been listening to Christmas jazz on radio stations over the Internet. I've finished numerous cups of coffee. I put up the last cards we got before Christmas and checked my database. I sent 94 cards and received 45. (From people. I don't count businesses and non-profits.) Didn't send to all families I received from. Didn't receive from all I sent (obviously). I've read a bunch of today's newspapers. And prior days, too.

I didn't buy a single gift save bottles of wine taken to hosts of parties. Unless you count the books I 'let' my husband (FFP) buy. (I also got a couple in this exchange. And I bought myself a French page a day calendar from Amazon.) I used to buy scores of gifts, from the ridiculous to the (maybe) sublime. And wrap or package them. I miss it a little. But not much. I got a couple of packages from my niece in Colorado. One had gourmet cheese, crackers, and sausage. One had a puzzle and some homemade macaroons. (My favorite cookie.) She said she got the puzzle secondhand although it was still shrink wrapped. (I like that. My family has, in the past, had secondhand or homemade Christmas. It was fun.)

We've had a relaxing day. I worked puzzles in the papers. We ate brunch: banana 'pancakes' (they are actually just bananas and eggs mixed up and grilled) with maple syrup, chicken sausage, and Bloody Marys. I didn't fall asleep after the alcohol but FFP did.

All day I checked my phone for text messages or Facebook posts...me and lots of other people marking the holiday with current or vintage pictures of Christmas celebrations. My niece sent texts of pictures of her boys and their gift exchange.

I can already feel the month-end, quarter-end and year-end tasks hanging low over my head. Taxes make this time of year have a bit of a cloud.

We have a few more holiday events. A Boxing Day party tomorrow. We are having a friend who has never seen the movie 'Giant' over on Thursday to watch it and it's iconic Christmas scene. I'm meeting girlfriends for our annual holiday get-together this Friday. On Saturday we are going to a Holiday Pops concert. New Year's Eve is an early dinner at a club with a couple of girlfriends then home to avoid late revelers.

And so it goes. I try to enjoy the time to read and think. But things hang over my head. Must do a bit of straightening and dusting and vacuuming before having that friend over, too.

Am I Better Now?

Remnants of a bendy Santa. Weirdly, I couldn't find the rest of him!

Every day seems to be something. That something for the last several days has been allergies. I already complained about that the last time I appeared on the 'almost but not quite daily' postings. I am almost fully recovered from injuring my foot/ankle in a bizarre deal where I was trying to walk off a foot that had fallen asleep and my ankle turned extremely. I barely feel it now except when I would push off on it or stop running and plant it in tennis. Not playing tennis for a bit because of the holidays. Walking isn't a bother, but I haven't been going outside because of the pollen. I'm a mess. I think I feel better today. I'm going to try to walk across Lady Bird Lake to the Palmer Events Center and see a band we like at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar (Albert and Gage). And later we are going to go to Trader Joe's (it's only about 100 yards away) and get some fruit and such to have tomorrow when things are closed. Tonight we are going to an interior Mexican restaurant we've been going to for many years for Christmas Eve dinner. I'll have some tamales! Maybe some Molé Enchiladas with Cheese. A Margarita. The allergies have made my appetite a little wonky. Maybe I feel better because all that sounds good even though I'm not hungry.

Well, we will see how I do outside with the pollen.

Many Prompts I Couldn't Follow

I didn't write a blog entry yesterday. I started one. The title was: "Objects of Desire." This was an old topic that I've written about until I seem to have exhausted my enthusiasm for it!

Yesterday I really had no excuse for not writing. I have, after all, made a list of over a hundred topics for my 'by the numbers' memoir. And I never showered or got out of my sweats that I slept in. I didn't leave the apartment. I put a few pieces in the jigsaw. I worked crosswords. My husband made some lunch and dinner. I wrote a few Christmas cards and letters and reviewed my bank accounts and bills. I read some of the three newspapers that arrive every day.

But I just couldn't write a blog entry!

I did get out of my jammy sweats to go out and play tennis today. And I took a shower. And I voted in a runoff election. We walked around taking a few pictures at hotels and other businesses of decorations. (See above.)

I still have lots of topics I want to explore: my boycott of football; the dynamics of keeping up with friends; graffiti; my aches, pains, injuries, and medical nihilism. But not today.

The Spirit of the Season

Some people are always willing to inject that little bit of fun into things. My mom worked to do it. She cooked, made stockings, decorated, invited people (lots of people) to come to the festivities. But my dad? He just made the fun. He told stories, true or not. Here my dad on the left (RIP) is amusing his brother-in-law, my Uncle E.C. (also RIP) with some story. The gift he has unwrapped is a pack of long matches for lighting the fireplace. Fire-building was his job. My Uncle E.C. loved to tell a story, too. They both enjoyed a bit of the spirits, too. I miss them both.

The Holiday Card Conundrum

Every year I wonder: Should I do holiday cards? What should they look like? Who should I send them to? How many should I order? Should I write a letter.? This year's answers: 

Yes, do a card. See design above. (That's a screenshot from Snapfish of my order. The Paramount Theater provided the photo. And, yes, they really put our names up there to shoot it. The small text says: "And make your New Year theatrical." The template was a Snapfish one so that was my entire contribution after sticking in the picture.) 

I ordered 140 flat cards with blank envelopes. I have written a template letter and, if I feel writing a letter is appropriate for the family or individual, I modify it to personalize it and print it out. So most cards won't have a letter included.

So far I've distributed 46 of the cards. Some I sent after I got a holiday card from someone. Some I sent because I expect to get a card. Some I sent with gift money enclosed.

I have hand-written both addresses and return address. 

I have a database of people's addresses on Access. It has 714 entries. It has many names where I've lost a proper address. I frequently 'scrub' the deceased and handle the couples who have parted ways. There are people in this database who no longer seem familiar to me. And I know a lot of people who aren't in this database that I interact with regularly or am 'friends' on Facebook with. They just never came into the 'snail mail' space although their emails may be in my contacts.

I have written something with a red pen on the back of the flat cards. 

I'll check the mail today and if I get cards from people who haven't been sent one, then I'll respond. 

I have exhausted this topic for yet another year. It makes me tired. I feel like the introvert I am at a cocktail party full of people I know but I don't know what to say to them.

I Meant to Post Yesterday

I spent a lot of time yesterday in my chair, working puzzles, reading papers and watching the interminable memorial for the 41st President. I saw Jimmy and Rosalyn looking at their watches. I'm a generation younger. I would have needed a bathroom break before the thing started. I have gotten our Christmas tree out. (Normal size ornaments are shown for reference.) I still have a few tiny rubber animals to put on it. Ho. Hum. Or Bah Humbug.

Anyway, I spent time with my injured foot up so that I could walk a mile or so down the trail and go to a joint called Pool Burger near Deep Eddy Pool to celebrate someone's 55th birthday. The burgers were really good. They mixed me a couple of Manhattans. There was a big crowd of a lot of locally-famous people. It was fun. We took a rideshare home street level and I put my foot up and watched episodes of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." What I didn't do was write a daily entry here. So soon to fail.

Off to play tennis on my injured foot again. I was pretty tentative Tuesday. I think it's better but still swollen and bruised. Sigh.

It's Always Something

Today's picture was taken in the house where I lived from about age 10-18. This was back when we put those silver icicles on the tree by tossing them up in the air and letting them fall. I recognize a couple of ornaments, the plastic angel for one. This tree looks pretty sad given the ones you see today. There are a lot of presents, but I really don't have any idea what year this was or what anyone got wrapped in those boxes.

Today I stood up when my foot was asleep and stepped awkwardly and turned my ankle. I expect to walk and stand a lot this week. I iced it but have some soreness and a bit of a bruised knot. Oh, and I'm supposed to play tennis tomorrow. Ah, well. This should be interesting. I already had a niggling after-effect of allergies.

I did get my Christmas decorations out of storage (but not put up) and I expanded the dining table leaf to accommodate the jigsaw puzzle. So, ready for Christmas season but actually falling apart.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Such an interesting time of the year for children who, like me decades ago, look forward to ripping off that colorful paper and having what the heart desires. Or maybe it would appear, unwrapped under the tree while you slept. These days, for us, there are rarely wrapped presents and no live, lopsided tree. I'm thinking this was at my grandparents' house in McKinney, Texas years ago although I could be wrong.

My husband and I are childless and orphaned (the parents would be 108, 102, 98, and 97 if they hadn't died at 100, 94, 91 and 80). This year we will go to parties, decorate in our own silly way, attend our annual performance of "The Nutcracker" by Ballet Austin, see "A Christmas Carol" at Zach Theater and a Holiday Chorale at The University of Texas.

We will put together a jigsaw puzzle: this year's choice is a 1000 piece image of a bookshelf!

I may make Welsh Rarebit from Fergus Henderson's cookbook, a tradition I tried to start last year after going to two St John restaurants in London in the summer and having it at both. Because: who doesn't like cheesy toast? And this recipe involves Guinness Stout.

 It will be quiet for us on the actual holidays although we may go out for dinner and jazz on Christmas Eve.

It's possible no presents will be wrapped. Or maybe we won't even have presents.

We will probably walk around downtown and the Capitol Grounds and take pictures of decorations in public spaces and shop windows. We will treat ourselves to some movies. We will watch lots of shows and movies on DVD, satellite, Netflix, Prime, etc.

There will be no anticipation or surprises (or disappointments) in gifts. I will trot out my 30-year-old red blazer and consider myself holiday-outfit worthy.

Truly, I enjoy the peaceful times, the days when we haven't scheduled any events and other people are gathering in masses. (Or attending masses: we aren't religious.)

So, have yourself a Merry Whatever.

All I Want For Christmas

Earlier in the month, I wrote an email to FFP with a sort of facetious Christmas list. But it was also kind of true.

• Some nice bar soap.
• A French word-a-day calendar
• A drive to Dallas to see Anna again give her some pictures I scanned (or show them to her electronically). We can go some off day after Christmas or New Year or ?
• Do a jigsaw puzzle (I have one I think)
• Put together a Lego (have it)
• Get all the newspapers out of my stacks (will require time and dedication)
• Have a couple of nice meals (Lenoir? Counter 357? Wu Chow?)
• See some movies at VC or Alamo and watch some vids (Giant? new Crown?)
• Go to some jazz shows
• Do our annual visit or visits to Armadillo Bazaar and see Christine or ?
• Go to Headliners or Austin Club for drinks
• Do some more clean-up, clean-out of closets, cabinets, storage, etc.
• Some long walks on days nicer than today

He has a gift bag for me. It's from a boutique on 2nd Street called Mercury. I'm sure it has some nice soap in it. Am I becoming an old lady or what?

He bought me a French 'Daily Phrases and Culture Calendar' at BookPeople. It's not wrapped or anything. It's here ready for my use. He also got me Sam Shepard's "Spy of the First Person" which I later said I wanted. Maybe I'll read that on Christmas Day. Nothing like the last work of a dying man on Christmas Day. Or New Year's Day perhaps.

The drive to Dallas is still pending. Some of my cousins promise to be around for my aunt and I've been watching the weather.

The puzzle (a secondhand one someone gave me) is out of the closet and coming together. He stayed up late last night working on it. Jigsaw puzzles have many lessons to teach (especially when worked on by multiple people!). 

I have a complicated Christmas Lego. I thought it would make a great decoration, put together. Might be too late on that. Next year!

Maybe I will conquer the newspapers on Christmas Day. Love having time to make it through all the Wall Street Journals, New York Times and our local rag, The Austin American-Statesman. 

We've had a few nice meals, but not at the suggested restaurants so far. We've already been piling in movies. Saw "The Darkest Hour" and "Wonder Wheel" at the Violet Crown. Have streamed and watched some movies on DVD. Maybe we'll get to "Giant" on Christmas Day.

We saw a set of jazz with friends last night and will do the same tomorrow night. We plan to go to the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar and see Christine Albert and Chris Gage tomorrow at noon. Then dinner and the Christmas Show at the Elephant Room for more jazz.

He made reservations to go to the Headliners Club for drinks and dinner on New Year's Eve. We'll do the ringing in at home.

Wouldn't it be nice if I cleaned out some more stuff? Well, at least I haven't acquired too much this holiday season.

We've had some nice walks when the weather permitted. More to come I'm sure before the 'holidays' are officially over.

Meanwhile, my niece sent some actual presents. A book of crossword puzzles, a couple of fun books,

 a page-a-day calendar of strange facts and these shoelaces that you just slide tight and they can never come untied. I'm fearful of losing the exercise I was getting bending over and tying the laces on my hikers. For some reason, they came with these round laces that seem to come untied even when I double knot them. I tested them out today. Perfection! I'm easily pleased.

Real physical presents don't matter. It really is the thought that counts. FFP said all he really wanted (bearing in mind that he already bought new pants, a new leather jacket and I forget what else for himself) was a new floor lamp by his reading chair. We shopped (buy didn't buy) for one today. (FYI: no one is shopping in furniture and lighting stores!)

Christmas Desire

Christmas sights and sounds always thrilled me: the carols, the decorations, the lights, iced cookies, a big family dinner with homemade rolls and pies and turkey giblet gravy. I was raised in the Christian tradition of baby Jesus: Christ is Born! and maybe the church or even the family will try a live nativity scene. But let's be honest. I wanted stuff, too. There wasn't a lot of stuff in our lives. That's me with a doll dressed in jeans and T-Shirt (an attempt to get me to like a baby doll). Obviously, I got a hat and gun. The homemade jeans and shirt might have been handed down.

These days I'm a skeptic about the Savior's birth, but I try to recapture the thrill of decorations and lights, mostly by co-opting the decorations in stores and hotels and people's outdoor light displays. I'm too lazy to do much decorating although this year I've trotted out my bendie Christmas figures, my tiny tree and a few things to scatter around the apartment. I try to recreate the excitement of getting and giving things with FFP by asking for a few things I could easily buy myself. He gets to shop for clothes, have a massage, etc. Business as usual but we say "that's for Christmas."

It all falls a little flat, though. The thrill is not there. We have what we want all the time, really. We give money to good causes, but nothing really captures the (admittedly selfish) thrills of old times. Plus, I'm retired so there isn't even the thrill of time off like when we were in school or worked.

When I was going through my aunt's old slides, I found this one. She is a twenty-something I'm guessing and she looks like she got a bowling ball. I don't think the thrill was gone for her.

Don't get me wrong. I'm perfectly OK with not really wanting or needing anything and realizing how lucky it is to have reached this place. I'm OK, too, with having lost any special meaning surrounding the holidays. But I won't say that there isn't a little depression that creeps in around the edges. The holidays should provide some kind of thrills whether it's religious, family gatherings or festive feeling. All the ads are promising it. But I know it won't come and that's something.

Staycation

That's kind of a brilliant wreath, I think. Makes me want to make a wreath out of some of my bendable Christmas figures. This was on display in the lounge of the Hotel Ella. We just finished spending two nights there (Saturday and Sunday). We buy local hotel stays in charity auctions. I suppose we should use them for out-of-town guests, but you have to be flexible about dates so we use them to explore local hotels. This one is partly housed in an old mansion on MLK Boulevard. They added a parking garage with an event space on top and a separate building with rooms where we stayed.

I really enjoyed the whimsical wreaths on display there. Others were less 'Christmasy' in their theme like this food one:

We enjoy going around to hotels to look at decoration. Staying in the hotel allows one to review hotel things. How is the shower? Bath amenities and towels? Bed and linens? The comfort of sitting or desk area? Accessible outlets? Wifi? TV and channel choices? Coffee maker or coffee available near the room in morning? Ostensibly we do this because we are thinking about putting up visitors in the hotel. But really we are just critics at heart. 

One fun thing about the outing was that we walked back and forth to the hotel with our backpacks and a roller bag. The hotel is about seventeen blocks away. We've walked to other hotel staycations as well (The Four Seasons and the JW Marriott), but they've been a bit closer. I can't remember if we walked to the Van Zandt (near Rainey Street), but we may have done. We also walked back to the apartment yesterday morning to get our Sunday papers and let FFP eat his ritual oatmeal. Sidewalks aren't great between here and there but we managed. We also walked over to Bates Recital Hall on the east campus on Saturday to hear a symphony and choral concert the UT students put on. Getting in the exercise was great. (It's been clear and cool all weekend so that was pleasant walking.) 

We ate dinner both nights at the hotel, one in the bar and one in the dining room and had brunch there, too. The food was pretty good. We saw people we knew both on staff and dining guests. We had drinks as well. The package we bought had a coupon for the dining room as well. 

Staycations change one's perspective briefly and concentrate one's attention apart from the distractions of the apartment. But it's good to be at home with our coffee maker, computers, etc. It's not like 'real' travel when one will be gone for enough days to have to think hard about what to pack and all that. I figure the hotel gets some attention from us (and a bit of money in the dining room or bar), the charity gets cash and we get a tiny adventure. When I was a kid, I loved the idea of staying in a hotel or motel. We didn't get to do it much, however, because we usually camped on vacations. When I started working and had some money for personal travel and then had lots of business travel, I found out a lot about hotel and motel stays. Not all of it was pleasant. But it was always part of an adventure. Maybe I'll write more about those adventures in subsequent days of Holidailies.

Santa Arrived

When I sorted through some slides my aunt had saved all these years I found some of a Christmas she must have spent with her sister (the mom of, at the time, two of my cousins). One shot was of the Christmas tree after Santa had visited. A bike for the older one, dolls, little dresses and other toys. When we are kids we have such high hopes for Christmas. We anticipate getting the perfect gifts from our list. We used to scour the Sears Christmas book to dream about that really wonderful toy. Even though there were no people in this one, I had it scanned. I imagine the little girls rushing in to find their loot. Now when I was a kid only the bike would have pleased me. Dress? Meh. Baby doll? Meh. But these kids look like they were well-pleased in this photo:

I wonder how (and if) they remember this Christmas/

Christmas is a Day of Rest

I missed writing anything yesterday. I was going to scoop up goofy pictures from facebook and put them here. Today will be a day of rest from many things. The picture was taken Friday of the long-suffereing husband (FFP) at Austin's Headliners club. They have a party on December 23 every year. It's from 11-2. I had several Bloody Marys. That's me in the mirror, post eating and drinking. We didn't do anything much after the party. Before the party we walked over to the bookstore (our local independent, BookPeople which is about a half mile away) and got a book we'd ordered. (Because we don't have enough books.) I think, after drinking in the middle of the day, I was pretty well finished. We read and watched movies.

Our Christmas Eve was jam-packed because we made it so. We went to the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar and heard a set from a band we like (Albert and Gage) and then we had an enchilada lunch at El Alma. It was a balmy day so we walked across the river to do this and, after lunch, walked up Doug Sahm Hill and through the dog park to say 'hi' to Stevie Ray Vaughn.

We read until time for our early reservation at Fixe. We had biscuits, steak tartare, pork roast,and barbecued beans. The roast was enough for six people (or more), but we knew going in that we were going to take a lot home. (If I ever get hungry again, it will be breakfast or lunch.) We had a bit to drink. A cocktail, some wine. We bumped into someone we knew who was alone at the bar and the three of us dined and dished.

It was still early when we packed it up. Fixe is a block from our apartment. We sat down and read a bit and were dozing, but, yes, we roused ourselves and went out again! We walked the five blocks to the Elephant Room and met up with our friends Butch and Linda. I drank a Guinness. FFP was down to diet Coke at that point. We lasted a set and Butch sat in for the final number and it was all we could do. The late show at the Elephant usually goes to 1:30 a.m.

By midnight, I was reading David Foster Wallace's "String Theory" (a collection of heavily foot-noted essays about tennis) in my bed. I fell asleep a few times squinting over the footnotes. And sleep.

Today is Christmas. And Sunday. I plan to publish this without editing and curl up in my chair with The New York Times magazine puzzles and CBS Sunday Morning. Maybe at the end of the day I'll write about my Christmas Day. I bet I don't get out as much as I did yesterday!

The Parties

Back in the day when we lived in what we call 'the big house' I would decide to give a party once in a while. I remember once giving a big Christmas party. Decorations, food, drink. Not that I had a big tree. We never did that. We don't give a party now, but we belong to groups or donate to groups that give parties or we get invited to private parties because we entertain folks some other way. (Usually little dinner parties throughout the year.) The picture below is from 2004 so I guess that was a big party. We invited enough people that we encouraged them to label their cups or put an id tag on their wine glass.

The bendy figures were providing comic relief.

Now we go to parties. We try to be festive. If we walk to the party, we might both have a drink. Nibble party food. Admire fancy and frivolous trees and other decorations. I think we are invited to a party in a week or so that is specifically to admire someone's lights. Hmmm.

Both of the private clubs we belong to give parties. We skip one because it is very crowded and while the food is free the drinks are not. And we'd have to drive there. We can walk to the other one. Free Bloody Marys and free food. It's during the day, though, so you have to plan a nap after.

Last night we went to a party given by the Austin Theater Alliance, protectors of the State and Paramount theaters. We met some new people. We heard a singer we hadn't heard. We couldn't get to the food, but I had a drink. I wore my red jacket and red socks with reindeers to be festive.

We might be invited to a Boxing Day party and a New Year's Day get together. I'm sort of looking forward to Christmas Day when no one invites us anywhere.