Christmas shenanigans 2012
Dec. 27th, 2012 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kodalaiChristmas 2012 was a new thing for my family, since for the first time they came out to Los Angeles for the holiday. Normally we go to either Austin or Boston, but as neither was practical this year, we tried a different approach.
The major problem with coming to LA is that I really didn't (still don't) have room to host a lot of guests. With some wrangling I managed to provide berths for both my sisters, but our parents stayed in a hotel. (To be fair, they often do -- they are far past the stage of their life where bunking on couches or splitting rooms is considered a fun adventure.)
Eldest sister arrived Thursday, but was preoccupied with end-of-semester grading that had to be done. Parents arrived Friday, but too late to meet up, so we really started the family reunion on Saturday. We went out to Long Beach and took a harbor tour; the harbor obliged by considerately not raining on us until we were back.
On Monday we went to see The Hobbit, which is a very silly movie, and not 100% certain of what genre it wants to be. Martin Freeman makes a great Bilbo, though, and Gollum was incredibly creepy. By the time the movie was out, it was too late to go to the Christmas Eve service we'd planned, so we spent the rest of Christmas Eve in, and watched A Muppet Christmas Carol, a nice return to old holiday traditions.
Tuesday was mostly spent indoors also, since the weather was unfavorable, and also I had to cook Christmas dinner. Most meals on this vacation by necessity were eaten (or ordered) out, since I flat-out just don't have the kitchen tools to cook complex meals for groups of people -- as my sisters discovered when hunting around for larger pans and skillets and various other cooking tools that were not in evidence. But! I made a ham, with nutmeg and cinammon pineapples; and middle sister made both a dish of potatoes and some brussel sprouts, so in all it was a very festive Christmas dinner. After dinner, I persuaded my sisters to watch the 2010 Doctor Who Christmas Special (the Dickens one, not the Narnia one.) Still IMO one of the best episodes of the Matt Smith era.
On Wednesday, the last day we'd all be here, we went to the Los Angeles Science Center (or ScienCenter, if you hate the English language) to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour! We bought our tickets ahead of time, which turned out to be a good thing, because the place was PACKED and large signs warned us that ENDEAVOR SOLDOUT. Despite some confusion with traffic and parking, we made it inside with almost perfect timing: we were in time, but didn't have to wait long. I was a bit worried that the exhibition would be a disappointment, given how much I had talked it up, but it really was quite impressive, worth going to see! Lots of information on the space program, as well as a full-scale mock-up of mission control.
After getting back from the Endeavor, we went to a nearby Japanese restaurant for dinner (Christmas Day was really the only day we cooked for the whole family.) I managed to persuade my sisters to watch Thor with me, despite the fact that one sister had recently seen it and the other has no interest in superhero movies. We finished off Wednesday night with a soujourn in the hot tub, drinking home made vanilla cream soda (did I mention I got a soda maker for Christmas? COS I DID) and singing from Les Miserables, which is probably how all vacations should end.
Alas, that seems to have been the end of the good times. One sister and my parents went home this morning, and I am back at work for tomorrow and Friday. This was all to plan, but other things were not: My mother brought along a shiny new cold from Texas, which she gifted to me; and the sushi from the Japanese place Wednesday night did not taste half so good coming back up. On top of those two things, shenanigans going on with pharmacy/clinic miscommunications mean that my BC pills ran out and I can't get any more (the clinic is refusing to answer my phone calls, most likely due to the holiday schedule.) So I am having a period again for the first time in... three years? Four years? Something like that, and my body is freaking the fuck out about it. Virus + cramps + food poisoning = unhappy Sophie.
The major problem with coming to LA is that I really didn't (still don't) have room to host a lot of guests. With some wrangling I managed to provide berths for both my sisters, but our parents stayed in a hotel. (To be fair, they often do -- they are far past the stage of their life where bunking on couches or splitting rooms is considered a fun adventure.)
Eldest sister arrived Thursday, but was preoccupied with end-of-semester grading that had to be done. Parents arrived Friday, but too late to meet up, so we really started the family reunion on Saturday. We went out to Long Beach and took a harbor tour; the harbor obliged by considerately not raining on us until we were back.
On Monday we went to see The Hobbit, which is a very silly movie, and not 100% certain of what genre it wants to be. Martin Freeman makes a great Bilbo, though, and Gollum was incredibly creepy. By the time the movie was out, it was too late to go to the Christmas Eve service we'd planned, so we spent the rest of Christmas Eve in, and watched A Muppet Christmas Carol, a nice return to old holiday traditions.
Tuesday was mostly spent indoors also, since the weather was unfavorable, and also I had to cook Christmas dinner. Most meals on this vacation by necessity were eaten (or ordered) out, since I flat-out just don't have the kitchen tools to cook complex meals for groups of people -- as my sisters discovered when hunting around for larger pans and skillets and various other cooking tools that were not in evidence. But! I made a ham, with nutmeg and cinammon pineapples; and middle sister made both a dish of potatoes and some brussel sprouts, so in all it was a very festive Christmas dinner. After dinner, I persuaded my sisters to watch the 2010 Doctor Who Christmas Special (the Dickens one, not the Narnia one.) Still IMO one of the best episodes of the Matt Smith era.
On Wednesday, the last day we'd all be here, we went to the Los Angeles Science Center (or ScienCenter, if you hate the English language) to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour! We bought our tickets ahead of time, which turned out to be a good thing, because the place was PACKED and large signs warned us that ENDEAVOR SOLDOUT. Despite some confusion with traffic and parking, we made it inside with almost perfect timing: we were in time, but didn't have to wait long. I was a bit worried that the exhibition would be a disappointment, given how much I had talked it up, but it really was quite impressive, worth going to see! Lots of information on the space program, as well as a full-scale mock-up of mission control.
After getting back from the Endeavor, we went to a nearby Japanese restaurant for dinner (Christmas Day was really the only day we cooked for the whole family.) I managed to persuade my sisters to watch Thor with me, despite the fact that one sister had recently seen it and the other has no interest in superhero movies. We finished off Wednesday night with a soujourn in the hot tub, drinking home made vanilla cream soda (did I mention I got a soda maker for Christmas? COS I DID) and singing from Les Miserables, which is probably how all vacations should end.
Alas, that seems to have been the end of the good times. One sister and my parents went home this morning, and I am back at work for tomorrow and Friday. This was all to plan, but other things were not: My mother brought along a shiny new cold from Texas, which she gifted to me; and the sushi from the Japanese place Wednesday night did not taste half so good coming back up. On top of those two things, shenanigans going on with pharmacy/clinic miscommunications mean that my BC pills ran out and I can't get any more (the clinic is refusing to answer my phone calls, most likely due to the holiday schedule.) So I am having a period again for the first time in... three years? Four years? Something like that, and my body is freaking the fuck out about it. Virus + cramps + food poisoning = unhappy Sophie.
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Date: 2012-12-27 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-13 06:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-13 10:52 am (UTC)I'm glad you're feeling better!
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Date: 2013-01-13 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-29 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-13 06:35 am (UTC)