Since the last Sunday in December is typically time for my year-in-review post, the first Sunday in January typically describes the last two weeks, including Christmas and New Year's. And this year is no different.
Instead of opening presents at our house, we took our presents to my sister's/grandparents' house on Christmas morning. I got a t-shirt with Reggie from my sister.
We briefly returned home, and while everyone else was napping or playing video games, I thought it was appropriate on Christmas to run to Sugar Plum Lane and Sugar Plum Court. This was the first time I have ever been running on Christmas Day. But I was disappointed that my Garmin app didn't have a special Christmas badge like they do for Halloween.
On December 26, my Church job was closed, but I had to do some state work.
On December 27, I went into the Church History Library, and my badge didn't work, even though I distinctly remember telling the badge lady that my last day was December 29. Rather than figure out the logistics of getting my badge to work for just three days, I decided to pound out the last work project I had that day. I managed to make my way to my desk, and I wrapped everything up. And then my job was over.
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| This smiley face stain in the parking garage stairwell was there when I started back in 2014. |
It's kind of wild to think of how much has changed since I started my internship in January 2022. At that time, I was still in school, we were in a COVID surge, Reggie still hid from us, I still hoped to find a wife, and I still wore glasses. When my previous stint with the Church History Department ended in 2017, I was sad, and I always hoped I would end up there again. I did, and I have loved working for the CHD! But I don't know if I will be back again. If I ever decided to get married, it would make me ineligible to work there.
On December 30, my whole family went to the movie theater to see Wonka. This was the first time I had been to a movie theater since I saw The Addams Family in October 2019. I enjoyed the movie, though I didn't think the bad guys met a fate befitting a Roald Dahl story.
And while taking down Christmas lights from the window, I randomly found a dead winged ant stuck to my hand.
New Year's Eve wasn't very exciting. We took my brother's family to the airport, which is always sad, but it's not as sad as when they were little kids. I just spent the evening with my parents, and we had champagne ice cream at midnight.
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| I am firmly anti-alcohol, so I don't want to endorse champagne, but there really aren't any other New Year ice cream flavors. But also, it wasn't very good. |
In the morning of New Year's Day, I sewed new pillowcases, confetti and Utah.
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| The "Happy New Year" pillowcase in the top right is one I've had for more than a decade. I wish there were more explicitly New Year materials like it. |
We had our traditional family meal with all of my mom's family. Unfortunately, I had started to come down with something, and I experienced aches and chills on New Year's Day. I felt like I do after an intense workout, even though I hadn't. After lunch, I spent most of the day in bed with the TV on in the background. I had hoped to spend New Year's Day taking down Christmas decorations while listening to my 2023 music collection, but I just didn't have it in me.
The only fun New Year's thing I did was to re-create this picture from 2004. When I was fifteen, I made this Baby New Year outfit for my niece. (I'm embarrassed by most things I did at fifteen, but I like this one.) I thought it would be fun and funny to redo it twenty years later. I made the 2004 sash with glitter, but I made the 2024 version using the Cricut machine I bought in 2016 and have very rarely used.
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| Twenty years later, the red hat still had the tape in it I used to put the padding in for her little baby head. (Also, the more I think about it, the more infuriated I am by the concept of scrapbooking!) |
Then the rest of the week, I continued to deal with my sickness. I took a couple of COVID tests, which came back negative. But I have had congestion, a cough, and a sore throat. There were a few nights where I woke up every half hour from the pain of swallowing. So then of course I'm tired from a poor night's sleep. Good thing I work from home! But even then I haven't worked much this week. I just haven't had the mental capacity to devote an entire workday. I had hoped that the first week of January would help me adjust to my new situation, with just one job. But it has been an atypical week.
I have been watching TV, things I don't have to pay a great deal of attention to, and I caught the last half of Die Hard on TV (I don't think I would care to see an unedited version). So now I can weigh in on the "Is it a Christmas movie?" debate. Of course it is! There is a lot of overlap between family movies and Christmas movies, so people tend to conflate the two. If you only want to watch family Christmas movies, that's fine; no one is making you watch Die Hard. But just because it's not a Christmas movie you want to watch doesn't mean it's not a Christmas movie. You might say, "Well, Christmas is not integral to the plot." But the same could be said for It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, Home Alone, and literally every Hallmark movie.
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I am getting better, but I'm still not great (watching church online today). Yesterday I felt well enough to put together my new record stand. Back in 2018, on a whim, I pulled out my parents' old record player, but since it's all original equipment, the speakers aren't great. The idea of this gift was to use an adapter to connect the record player to the basement sound system so we don't have to use the old speakers. But it didn't work. The sound quality just doesn't work; maybe the record player is too old.
And after using the record player over the last six years, I really don't get why they're a fad. They might have a nice sound, but you can only use them in a certain room at home–whereas with digital files, you can use them anywhere. With CDs, you can convert them to digital files. (I use iBroadcast, a really wonderful resource that lets you upload all your music collection for digital use, for free!) As an example of records being less convenient—back in 2018, I bought a reissued album of songs inspired by The Munsters on vinyl. But then in 2021, I bought it again digitally so I could add it to my Halloween playlist. Records' alleged sound quality doesn't outweigh their inconvenience. The emperor is not wearing any clothes!
Anyway, I'm hoping this next week can be a little more normal!
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