Writer's Block: Tonight, tonight
Dec. 24th, 2009 09:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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It's interesting how this question could be referring to two different dates. I think Writer's Block is scheduled by Pacific Coast time in the US, where it has just become Christmas Eve-- but some of us are only hours away from Christmas itself; someone in a time zone around mine could easily see this tomorrow morning and assume it to be about Christmas Day, which in my case has always been a million times less exciting than Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve: Typical
Normally Christmas Eve is the biggest part of Christmas for me. My paternal family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) plus my maternal grandmother (she does Thanksgiving with my aunt, and Christmas with my mom) gets together for a family party. It used to be the entire extended family (including my grandfather's two brothers and all their children and grandchildren-- my cousins-once-removed and second cousins, etc), which was a chaos of food (and always the same food; if you didn't bring the dish you brought last year, somebody was bound to complain about missing their favorite thing!), lots of young kids, and enough people to choreograph "The 12 Days of Christmas" so that a group of two or three would sing each verse (you'd get assigned something like "four calling birds" or "seven swans a-swimming" and of course everyone fought over "twelve drummers drumming") with the three tuneless patriarchs always stuck with "A partridge in a pear tree" because it was sung the most. At some point during the evening, the family would divide up to the homes of their respective parents/grandparents (easy enough, since all three live in the same neighborhood!) and do a quiet gift exchange amongst themselves.
In recent years, the extended family shebang has disappeared, but my family still gathers with my aunts, uncles, cousins at my grandparents' house. My grandmother makes a delicious meal (and recently has begun enlisting Tory's help with the baking, since Tory has a good reputation and enthusiasm for it) and we still exchange gifts. There's still *kids* afoot but we're all mostly well-mannered young adults (my oldest cousin has a baby and another cousin is married, and the youngest of our number is in middle school), and instead of "The 12 Days of Christmas" each person is assigned one verse of the Luke Christmas story to read aloud in order, which is less embarrassing, though a bit less lively.
My favorite part of Christmas Eve, however, is the drive home. I've mentioned before that northern Indiana usually gets a white Christmas and frequently even has falling snow on Christmas Eve, which is beautiful to drive in (when it's not actually dangerous and at risk of stranding us, which has been a concern on a couple of Christmas Eves). By Christmas Eve, everyone who is going to have Christmas lights has them up and on, and so we can watch them sleepily out the window. I love looking at lit houses from a dark road at any time of year, but at Christmas people have more lights on and homes look cozier, especially in contrast to the snow. This peaceful drive is always, always serenaded by Bing Crosby's White Christmas album; nothing else will do.
Christmas Eve: This Year
This year, however, is totally different. I'm already a good way through my Christmas Eve, especially considering I plan to be going to bed around 11:00 pm in order to wake up early to catch my bus to catch my flight to catch my other flight to catch my other flight to (build the house that Jack built?) catch my flight that will final bring me to my family in the late hours of Christmas Day. If you assume my *evening* started around 5:00 pm, about the time the sun went down, I was out running some final last errands and double-checking the bus schedule. I came home, finalized my packing, printed out the boarding pas for my Tokyo-LA flight (still too early to check in for LA-Detroit-South Bend, but hopefully by tomorrow morning I can do that, too), and finished up some cleaning before going to dinner by myself at Gusto next door. I've cleaned out the fridge and there is nothing in my house except for a few Cup Noodles (one of which I will eat for breakfast tomorrow) and a couple odd snacks I plan on carrying with me for the first part of my trip (aka: until they are devoured), so I ate out. I was one of the very few people in the restaurant and I ate by myself (sad!-- lol but I actually wasn't the only one >.<), masticating on what appeared to be a donut-shaped fish burger served atop a cabbage and mushroom salad garnished with wafu dressing, baked pumpkin chunks, and a soft-boiled egg, with rice, miso soup, spinach salad, and pickles on the side while what sounded for all the world like the soundtrack to the original Sims game played over the speakers. I'll finish out the night with a shower and final double-check of everything I need.
Christmas Day At Night: Typical
Normally Christmas Day at night is not very exciting for me and my family. Christmas morning we do our presents and then we spend part of Christmas Day with my grandparents again who come over for brunch (eggs a la goldenrod!). However, they're usually gone by early- to mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is just lazy de-stress in the afterglow. We start putting together and using some of the gifts, munch on Christmas candy, and have something light and effortless like Campbell's soup for dinner. The evening goes on from there like most any other evening on Christmas break: my parents go to bed early, and Tory, Neil, and I watch TV or a movie and fight over/rotate through the computer to talk to our friends online. I usually go to bed fairly early (for me on a break) since there usually aren't many people on (more interesting Christmas evenings than me, I guess, lol) and I'm usually tired since often don't sleep very well the night before Christmas; I'm always too excited about it.
Christmas Day At Night: This Year
I guess to make up for an unusually anticlimactic Christmas Eve (and Christmas Day!) this year, my Christmas Day at night will be much more exciting than usual. If all goes well, I will board my final flight (Detroit-South Bend) around 8:30 pm EST to arrive an hour later at the airport, greeted by at least one of my family. After a drive home that should take a little under an hour (here's hoping the roads are good >.<), I'll be safe and warm (wow, that expression never resonated so well; whoever came up with that must have also been an American expat in Japan!) at home, with its familiar sights, smells, and people. I'll give myself maybe a half-hour of social time running on the sheer adrenaline of the excitement to be home, but then I'm taking a warm shower and climbing into bed to sleep for what will likely be the first time in over 20 hours.
So, as can be inferred from that, tonight's my last night in Japan until I return to Hagi on January 7th. As of tomorrow I'll be traveling and vacationing in Indiana, LA, and San Francisco, and I'll likely have little time to spare online. So you won't be hearing much from me for a while. In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas, Happy belated Solstice, Happy belated Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy (any other seasonal holiday I might have missed), and a Happy New Year!
It's interesting how this question could be referring to two different dates. I think Writer's Block is scheduled by Pacific Coast time in the US, where it has just become Christmas Eve-- but some of us are only hours away from Christmas itself; someone in a time zone around mine could easily see this tomorrow morning and assume it to be about Christmas Day, which in my case has always been a million times less exciting than Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve: Typical
Normally Christmas Eve is the biggest part of Christmas for me. My paternal family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) plus my maternal grandmother (she does Thanksgiving with my aunt, and Christmas with my mom) gets together for a family party. It used to be the entire extended family (including my grandfather's two brothers and all their children and grandchildren-- my cousins-once-removed and second cousins, etc), which was a chaos of food (and always the same food; if you didn't bring the dish you brought last year, somebody was bound to complain about missing their favorite thing!), lots of young kids, and enough people to choreograph "The 12 Days of Christmas" so that a group of two or three would sing each verse (you'd get assigned something like "four calling birds" or "seven swans a-swimming" and of course everyone fought over "twelve drummers drumming") with the three tuneless patriarchs always stuck with "A partridge in a pear tree" because it was sung the most. At some point during the evening, the family would divide up to the homes of their respective parents/grandparents (easy enough, since all three live in the same neighborhood!) and do a quiet gift exchange amongst themselves.
In recent years, the extended family shebang has disappeared, but my family still gathers with my aunts, uncles, cousins at my grandparents' house. My grandmother makes a delicious meal (and recently has begun enlisting Tory's help with the baking, since Tory has a good reputation and enthusiasm for it) and we still exchange gifts. There's still *kids* afoot but we're all mostly well-mannered young adults (my oldest cousin has a baby and another cousin is married, and the youngest of our number is in middle school), and instead of "The 12 Days of Christmas" each person is assigned one verse of the Luke Christmas story to read aloud in order, which is less embarrassing, though a bit less lively.
My favorite part of Christmas Eve, however, is the drive home. I've mentioned before that northern Indiana usually gets a white Christmas and frequently even has falling snow on Christmas Eve, which is beautiful to drive in (when it's not actually dangerous and at risk of stranding us, which has been a concern on a couple of Christmas Eves). By Christmas Eve, everyone who is going to have Christmas lights has them up and on, and so we can watch them sleepily out the window. I love looking at lit houses from a dark road at any time of year, but at Christmas people have more lights on and homes look cozier, especially in contrast to the snow. This peaceful drive is always, always serenaded by Bing Crosby's White Christmas album; nothing else will do.
Christmas Eve: This Year
This year, however, is totally different. I'm already a good way through my Christmas Eve, especially considering I plan to be going to bed around 11:00 pm in order to wake up early to catch my bus to catch my flight to catch my other flight to catch my other flight to (build the house that Jack built?) catch my flight that will final bring me to my family in the late hours of Christmas Day. If you assume my *evening* started around 5:00 pm, about the time the sun went down, I was out running some final last errands and double-checking the bus schedule. I came home, finalized my packing, printed out the boarding pas for my Tokyo-LA flight (still too early to check in for LA-Detroit-South Bend, but hopefully by tomorrow morning I can do that, too), and finished up some cleaning before going to dinner by myself at Gusto next door. I've cleaned out the fridge and there is nothing in my house except for a few Cup Noodles (one of which I will eat for breakfast tomorrow) and a couple odd snacks I plan on carrying with me for the first part of my trip (aka: until they are devoured), so I ate out. I was one of the very few people in the restaurant and I ate by myself (sad!-- lol but I actually wasn't the only one >.<), masticating on what appeared to be a donut-shaped fish burger served atop a cabbage and mushroom salad garnished with wafu dressing, baked pumpkin chunks, and a soft-boiled egg, with rice, miso soup, spinach salad, and pickles on the side while what sounded for all the world like the soundtrack to the original Sims game played over the speakers. I'll finish out the night with a shower and final double-check of everything I need.
Christmas Day At Night: Typical
Normally Christmas Day at night is not very exciting for me and my family. Christmas morning we do our presents and then we spend part of Christmas Day with my grandparents again who come over for brunch (eggs a la goldenrod!). However, they're usually gone by early- to mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is just lazy de-stress in the afterglow. We start putting together and using some of the gifts, munch on Christmas candy, and have something light and effortless like Campbell's soup for dinner. The evening goes on from there like most any other evening on Christmas break: my parents go to bed early, and Tory, Neil, and I watch TV or a movie and fight over/rotate through the computer to talk to our friends online. I usually go to bed fairly early (for me on a break) since there usually aren't many people on (more interesting Christmas evenings than me, I guess, lol) and I'm usually tired since often don't sleep very well the night before Christmas; I'm always too excited about it.
Christmas Day At Night: This Year
I guess to make up for an unusually anticlimactic Christmas Eve (and Christmas Day!) this year, my Christmas Day at night will be much more exciting than usual. If all goes well, I will board my final flight (Detroit-South Bend) around 8:30 pm EST to arrive an hour later at the airport, greeted by at least one of my family. After a drive home that should take a little under an hour (here's hoping the roads are good >.<), I'll be safe and warm (wow, that expression never resonated so well; whoever came up with that must have also been an American expat in Japan!) at home, with its familiar sights, smells, and people. I'll give myself maybe a half-hour of social time running on the sheer adrenaline of the excitement to be home, but then I'm taking a warm shower and climbing into bed to sleep for what will likely be the first time in over 20 hours.
So, as can be inferred from that, tonight's my last night in Japan until I return to Hagi on January 7th. As of tomorrow I'll be traveling and vacationing in Indiana, LA, and San Francisco, and I'll likely have little time to spare online. So you won't be hearing much from me for a while. In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas, Happy belated Solstice, Happy belated Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy (any other seasonal holiday I might have missed), and a Happy New Year!
