Merry Christmas Tto All...

I am sitting in a living room in Round Rock, Texas, surrounded by my family, and very glad that I was able to make it here. My epidural on Friday (the first of…three?) was not the most fun I’ve ever had, but as is the case with things like that, the local anaesthetic hurts the most. Fortunately it works, so the only thing you feel after that is pressure in your spine. Not something that I often think of as a good thing, but pressure is better than fire.

I haven’t been wrasslin’ with my nephews as much as I like to, but we’ve been able to play and enjoy each other’s company, which is the best part of any family time. The boys are all getting so much bigger, I can’t believe it! The newest addition to our family, my niece-to-be, is taking up more and more room inside her mommy, who continues to bear it all like a rock star. I do hope that I’m as active and gracious when I’m 8 ½ months pregnant (and make the same tasty, tasty mint chocolate fudge), although I make no guarantees. For the time being, I’m just trying not to be too much of a whiner when it’s been too long between painkillers. Actually, I only take one or two a day now, as it appears that the anti-inflammatories are doing their job. Often, it’s more discomfort than actual pain. Although, last night I did wake up in the middle of the night because the pins-and-needles in my leg made it feel like something was crawling over my legs or something equally disconcerting.

I’ve figured out how to make my convalescence a little more productive, and will be working from Special K’s house as much as possible next week since he has wireless internet, and my laptop for work has a wireless card. Therefore, I can lie down *and* do work and research and check e-mail, all at the same time. But this whole “not being active” thing can’t last too long, or I will go insane. And need to buy new pants, but that’s a whole separate issue. (And I may be able to take advantage of some post-Christmas sales, should it come to that.)

Christmas detritus is strewn all across the living room floor, and my dad and my brother have been working on assembling a trampoline for the past few hours – it’s one of those things that that is supposed to be easy to assemble, but is really only easy to assemble if you’re the person who designed it. Everyone else will want to take bolt A and, instead of inserting it into slot B, jam it through their eyeballs to make the pain go away.

Mom is working away in the kitchen for Christmas dinner and I’m about to get up and make some baked brie to tide us over until dinner is ready. When we were getting ready to leave last night, Mikey, my youngest nephew, jogged over to the door with us and started to put his shoes on with an inquisitive look. He was mildly crushed to discover that we were leaving and he couldn’t come with us. Christmas with children is just a completely different experience from Christmas with grownups, there’s that exuberance of “HE’S BEEN!!!” (a quote from my brother, many years ago) that adults can’t quite match. Special K and I won’t have our own to add to the mix for a few years yet, but it’s fun to hear him referred to as “Uncle Special K”, even though it’s not quite official yet.

So with those ramblings completed, I’ll be off to caramelize some onions, pour them over brie, and wrap the whole thing in phyllo dough before chucking it in the oven. Not exactly a healthy holiday treat, but it sure doesn’t suck.

Pictures of the Darth Family to come…