HO HO HO

My family came up for the holidays this year. Mom, Dad, brother(Jim), his new wife(Kristen) and their two dogs. The last time we had a full Harris Vermont winter Ella was six months old and way more engaged in eating the wrapping paper than enjoying the millions of gifts.

My mom and Jim went in on a new pair of cross country skis for my dad. Jim scored an old wooden pair of Tubbs snowshoes when they made the purchase so, since there's actually snow this year for Christmas, I pulled out my skis and we've been out there doing loops in the back pasture for the past few days.

I've eaten more food since last Friday than I have for the past three months and I think I'll need to do a diligent fast for the entire month of January to put things back in balance. We finally got to cooking up the 25lb turkey that we thought we'd use for Thanksgiving but didn't. I made up my foccaccia, fresh sage, pineapple, pecan, fig, shitake, shallot stuffing for the bird, cranberry sauce from scratch, roasted brussels, the old faithful mashed potatoes and a pumpkin cheesecake that we never even touched.

The little spot on top of my old wooden pantry, the spot that is reserved for the few bottles of booze we have at any given time... one or two bottles of red wine... sometimes a half bottle of Jack Daniels left over from a party.... usually placed with just enough room between the tea pots and the cookbooks....that spot is pleasantly overflowing with bottles of organic red wine, good bottles of Pinot Noir and the homemade wine that Kristen's parents make every year. Add to that the Malibu, Kaluha, fixins for Apple Martinis and the coolers in the mudroom with Sammy Smiths, Yeungling and dad's Miller Lite..... and it made for a cozy house and slow mornings.

On Saturday morning I made everyone put on their warmest clothes and drove them further out into the country, telling them, in turns, that we were either going ice fishing, to play paintball or to build snow igloos. Two Percheron horses were bridled and ready when we arrived and we left for an hour long carriage ride through pine forest and high mowing pastures. Incredible.

On Sunday we tried our best to not get out of our pajamas. We watched It's a Wonderful Life, ate more cookies, drank more red wine and ate too much dinner.

Monday, we carved our way through the house between balls of crumpled up holiday paper.... ate more cookies, drank more red wine, Yeungling and Malibu and ate too much dinner. At the end of the day, everyone had their little mound of a Christmas present alter and not enough energy to really organize much more than that. We watched a DVD slide show that my brother put together for everyone of their wedding in September and I cried (again) because I love him so fucking much and have never seen him happier than he was on that day.

After the initial novelty of a musical Ariel sea shell shaped chariot led by three flipping dolphins, Ella kept her nose pressed all day to her new portable DVD player or to the new pink Gameboy her Granny Jean mailed up from Maryland. Scary. I never thought my kid would own or choose to operate a Gameboy. This is the same kid who used to reem out all of her little boy friends for being obsessed with their video games... and there she was, not hearing any of us call her when dinner was ready... lost in the digital realm. I have a feeling on the scale of coolness, the Gameboy may win by a landslide over the pretty cast iron doll bed and bedset that mom got for her. Oh well. At least she digs the bathrobe.

My family is still sleeping at the house. I woke up at 5:20am to come and open the shop. I've been here for an hour and a half and have sold one small cup of coffee and one large cup of coffee. The college kids are home for break, the studio center folks have all gone home for the holiday... the new batch of residents arrive next week. Alot of my regulars have gone to their hometowns for a couple of days. I actually had everything ready to open today with twenty five minutes to spare. It was still dark outside and I hadn't yet turned the lights on in the two front rooms, so I grabbed my down coat and curled up on the couch and caught a quick nap before I had to unlock the door.

Jim and Kristen will come in and say goodbye before they leave. My folks have decided to stay an extra day. I'll probably leave the shop early and get in another cross country ski with my dad before the light fades late afternoon. Oh yeah, and we'll eat leftovers. For a really long time.