Catchy Name Needed

I tend to get stressed out at Christmas - I guess a lot of people do, right? Kids and gifts and family and big dinners, etc., there's a lot of stressors there. On top of the normal stress triggers - I need to wrap some stuff, I haven't packed - I've been sitting here trying to remember all the things my sister told me and then told me not to tell anybody. (Except Rob, thank goodness. I'm allowed to tell him the whole kit & kaboodle.) I guess that also means I shouldn't turn around and tell the internet all her secrets, should I? But really who she was worried about was the piece of the family that Rob & I normally spend Christmas with. Let's see, I guess the piece of super-sekrit info that I feel most comfortable sharing here is that her book that she wrote long ago is up on Amazon, and has been for a good while, under a pseudonym. I didn't know about the Amazon part, although I knew about the book. I haven't read it, but she gave me a paper copy to read. (I'm waiting til after the family thing is over so I'll be less likely to slip up on that.) She says something happened with autocorrect or something and it's riddled with typos. She wants to get it fixed and put it up under her own name, although that would require jumping through some hoops such as getting a new ISBN, I guess, as well as copy-editing it all over again. I'm not going to tell you where to find it right now (actually I haven't looked for it, although I've seen the fake name now) but if she gets it fixed and I don't completely hate it, I won't rule out sharing that at some time in the future.

In other Christmas-related news, my aunt was trying to guilt us into staying longer when I called her to tell her when we were coming. I went to see her last month specifically because she always complains about that, and (why am I surprised?) it didn't help at all, apparently. I like seeing her and my cousins of various removes at the holidays, and if it was just me on my own I probably might stay longer, but man, I do NOT want to have that fight with Rob. One day and he's ready to go, and I know better than to suggest otherwise. Plus I was off this past week, but he worked all week. I don't particularly blame him for wanting some time at home. 

I'd write more but I think I better go wrangle presents instead! Merry Christmas, or whatever the holiday of your choice is. (Christmas is just the holiday I inherited. I seem to be less interested in it every year.)

When I got to work yesterday, they had put up a Christmas tree in the middle of the counter where we work, right next to the computer monitor and completely displacing the cash register, which was relegated to a little low table. I'm not exactly sure whose idea this was, but I don't guess it matters since I assume the boss okayed it. The tree is right next to my face when I'm at the monitor, and I hate that, but I guess I'm stuck with it for the next three weeks. I'll live. I also got stressed at work because nobody had done any data entry while I was off and so I was catching up on an entire week of paperwork. I got most of it entered and left some only-mildly-bitchy notes about the part I couldn't figure out. I am definitely not full of holiday spirit at the moment. But then it's only December 3, in my opinion that's too early to be expected to have holiday spirit anyway. (I also think it's ridiculously early to put a tree up in a non-retail environment, but obviously everybody doesn't share that opinion.)

I actually have all my gifts bought, I think. I started collecting stuff early. Our normal Christmas routine may be shot to hell, though. Normally either one of my cousins or my aunt does Christmas, and we spent a night or two up the country at their house. But the cousin is in temporary quarters - they're in the middle of a two-step move out of town - and my aunt is in Houston taking care of her 102-year old father, who broke his hip. (My aunt is actually my aunt by marriage, if you're wondering, which is why her father is not my grandfather. But I've known both of them since I was five years old so they're just family in my book.) We may end up having Christmas in Houston, which would be more convenient for us anyway - and we wouldn't have to spend the night at all. It seems like it would be sort of hard on my aunt hosting it, but she volunteered (or rather sort of semi-volunteered, which is why I'm saying it's still up in the air). I certainly don't have room for all those people. George, the 102-year-old, has a good-sized house - although of course he's been in rehab after the hip incident - and if my aunt has been staying there for months it's clean as a whistle, if I know her. So anyway, we are just winging it on all that. (If I don't end up seeing my cousins I'll have to ship their gifts to them in the mail or something - but I bet I'll end up seeing them.)

I have been reading about Japanese porn on Wikipedia. Don't ask me why. (I am not providing a link, since I've already lost the page and I think that's easy enough to find, if you really feel the need to read it.)

Things that made me happy today (I am tempted to say "Japanese porn" but since I didn't actually see any I don't guess that counts):
- actually doing some useful things
- clementines
- apple pie (from HEB again, they make really good apple pie)
- finding a letter in my mother's handwriting
- the fact that I don't actually need Mr. Darcy for Christmas, thankyouverymuch, since I already have a perfectly good husband. (Ok, better than perfectly good.) Admittedly the "rich" part would come in handy but I'd rather not have to deal with his relatives. Lady Catherine and I would not get along.

Rob took the apple pie to his party at work and apparently nobody ate any. He said there was an overabundance of desserts. (It wouldn't be a Christmasholiday party without an overabundance of desserts, really.) Fine, then, we have to eat it. Such a terrible thing.

I have talked to all the relatives involved in my holiday plans, I think, and we are going to Bryan on Tuesday and probably coming back late on Thursday but might stay til Friday morning. This latter decision partially depends on whether my nephew and his father decide to stop by (on their way between Austin and Lake Conroe) and if Parker comes his mother may actually come too, which would make it interesting. Some of you may remember some drama on this subject from last year. I am absolutely not holding my breath that Paula will show up, but I suspect that the presence of her son might do it if anything will. They don't seem to see a great deal of each other even though they live in the same town.

Then at some unspecified time after we get back, I am actually going to cook dinner for my Dad and Barbara, something I've never done before... well, not in their presence, anyway. I figure pot roast is really really difficult to fuck up, though, and I'm not planning to have much of anything else complicated. I will manage. (I will also have to clean up the living room, but it's not in all that bad a shape, luckily. I cleaned up much of the overflowing paperwork during my flurry of usefulness earlier today.)

My dad had called and said, "It's nothing, I just wanted to chat with you" to my answering machine, and that's not a phrase he ever uses - and so I immediately wondered if that actually meant something was wrong, and I guess I was right about that. His prostate cancer seems to be reoccuring. However, it seems that in this case it's not necessarily as dire as other cancers can be when they reoccur. At least, they don't seem unduly concerned. They are going to freeze part of his prostate and cut out the offending part, or something like that, tomorrow. I guess I could have volunteered to go hang out at the hospital with Barbara but I didn't. I am very bad at waiting and I'd rather do it at home if I have a choice.

I finished the damn cards, finally, and I boxed up the apples and jewelry for the in-laws (along with a card explaining what was for whom and denying any responsibility for the apples) and I need to go to the post office first thing in the morning and get all that in the mail. There is also somebody supposed to be calling me about bank stock, of all things. And I may actually make a visit to Chase. (If I actually manage TWO productive days in a row, Rob will faint.)