Christmas Day

Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirl.

I cleaned UP.

From the top:

• Celestial-themed wooden box
• "Time to Pretend" by MGMT, a band I know nothing about except that I've heard them on Pandora and like them
• Carole King, "Tapestry"
• The Weepies, "Be My Thrill"
• Look at this F*cking Hipster, a very funny picture book of hipsters in their natural environments
• Season One of "Modern Family," which I forgot I asked for, so it was a lovely surprise
• I Don't Care About Your Band: What I Learned from Indie Rockers, Trust Funders, Pornographers, Felons, Faux-Sensitive Hipsters, and Other Guys I've Dated, a book I freely admit I added to my wish list because of the title
• The Other Side of Paradise, Stacyann Chin's memoir, which Queen S bought for me because SC is biracial, gay, a poet, and because QS knows memoirs are my favorite type of books *sniff*
• Inner Excavation: Exploring Your Self Through Photography, Poetry and Mixed Media, which is proving to be VERY cool at just a glance

Not pictured:

• A GORGEOUS, blue, long-sleeved dress shirt from Land's End. Haven't tried it on yet, but hoping it fits. Had no idea LE sold plus sizes.
• THE KNIFE my parents got me. I opened it up, saw a huge butcher knife, and immediately said, "I think this is Mack Daddy Smooth's." I was assured it was mine because I had made the mistake of mentioning out loud that I want to get more confident in my cooking abilities. I thanked them for the weapon and moved on.
• Three bottles of Bath and Body Works' Cool Citrus Basil body cream
• A laptop. A laptop I didn't ask for. Mack got one and *poof* so did I. Hells YEEUH!

I got up at 7:30 (whywhywhy), burned a couple CDs, watched some comedy, puttered a bit, and vowed to let my family sleep until 10:00 a.m. Luckily, MDS made an appearance at 9:52 and the folks followed soon after. We scratched our lottery tickets, which is a family Xmas Day tradition. For the first time in years, we all won a little something. I got $3, which I'll probably spend on another ticket. Perhaps free money will beget more free money.

MDS cooked up some eggs for breakfast and the next few hours slid by in cleaning up prior to the arrival of my aunts and uncles, getting ready, and watching MDS cook.

He's rubbing basil all over a piece of lamb. He served it with rice that had small chunks of sweet potato in it and a side of roasted veggies. Today was the first time in probably 30 years that I had red beets. I didn't like them when I was a kid but made myself try it. I didn't hate it. Some of the veggies were thickly coated in olive oil and it was a little much for me -- OO tastes pretty icky to me, something that became very noticeable during the past two years -- but all that was easily forgotten as I sipped multiple glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon.

The immediate fam and two aunts and two uncles retired to the living room after nomming on a combination of pound cake (Grandma S' recipe that Queen S has made for as long as I can remember), cookies, and banana pudding. I started passing out almost immediately and finally excused myself almost an hour later. I am now in my robe and slippers, comfy comfy, and watching Beyonce slowly take over the world via my television set. She's a fierce little minx, that one.

Tomorrow I petsit for Sterling and Steele and I'm thinking about going to see Black Swan again. I saw it Thursday and I'm SERIOUSLY obsessing about it. Like I'm wanting to bring it up in conversation and ask people what they thought and I'm marveling at the fact that Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis did their own dancing (aided at times for more difficult footwork) and I'm marveling most at their dedication, that Portman for one had to begin training a year before filming began. How that film must have been in her marrow by the time they actually began capturing the dark, fucked-up, erotic story. I hope that she gets an Oscar. It will be WELL deserved.

I guess that's it. If you celebrate Xmas, I hope you had a great day. I also wish you a happy post-Hanukkah, post-Yule, now-mostly-over-but-the-sentiment-is-still-real Saturday.