Sara
Woke up at 6 am on Christmas coughing my lungs out. I've been on the tail end of a cold and have been hibernating for the last week. Did my usual phone scroll while cuddling with my cat Clyde. I found a rental listing for an old house that I viewed in 2016 with my old roommates. We loved the old charm and layout of it, calling it the “soul house”. It was out of our price range, but I share the link with Magali to reminisce. We both agree the addition of leather furniture ruins the charm of it. My morning is very slow since we are not exchanging any gifts this year and our plans start at 1 pm. I stayed in bed to cuddle with Clyde until 8:30 trying to go back to sleep but no luck. I take a long hot shower hoping it will open up my sinuses. My cold has slowly migrated from my throat to my ears and I take all of the preventative meds I can. Today's covid test is still negative. Can't be too sure!!
After my shower I start making some coffee and cast on a new knitting project. This year me and Magali have agreed to make handmade gifts! How fun :) I watch some Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (the best reality show this year) and wait for Nick to get up. Once he's out of bed around 10 am, we do the little gift wrapping that we have and eat some toast. Nick is a pro with the wrapping and I just stuff my mom's knit socks into scrap wrapping paper. Thank god for Nick!
We slowly get ready for our long day of traveling and visiting our families. Since I'm still under the weather Nick offers to drive which is a relief for me. Clyde has joined us in the living room and begins whining for his food. After we comply he takes a nice long nap next to us on the couch.
[PIC]
We leave Philly heading out to Downingtown to visit Nick's mom and stepfamily. It's at a cozy little retirement community. The drive is uneventful and I put Max Richter on because the city pop that Nick chose was overstimulating while driving on 76. I should have known that Max Richter would have made it a somber ride and feel like I'm in my own A24 movie while staring out of the passenger seat looking at the scenic countryside.
The afternoon goes fast with great appetizers and laughing with the step family. We get a lot of questions about our upcoming wedding in April and it's just another reminder that we have to do more planning (lol). Before we know it, we are late driving to my parents in Delco!! My anxiety kicked up and I worry that I will delay our pollyanna. We got there a little after 4 and everything was fine. I was just putting pressure on myself :))))
I enter the front door and I am shocked by the amount of facial hair my dad has grown in the last month!!! He has been going through treatment for his stage four lung cancer and the last few months have been rough for our family to say the least. His facial hair has grown out again and he is sporting his familiar goatee. However, his beard, eyebrows, and hair are bushier, softer, and darker!!!!! We expected chemo to change his hair when it grew back but we didn't know it would come out like this! My dad started greying in his 30s, so I have never seen him with color in his hair. He has put more weight on since I've last seen him and he looks like his old self before his cancer journey began. I'm dedicating a whole paragraph to my dad's facial hair because it might be corny, but this is the best Christmas gift I could receive!!!!!
At this point in the day, I am exhausted because having a cold for a week has made me accustomed to taking a nap every day. I update the family with the generic wedding news while we exchange our pollyanna gifts. My cousin got me some Posca paint pens and a gift card, hell yeah. It was great seeing the whole extended family this year, minus my one cousin who lives in California.
After we finish the holiday formalities it is time to open up the tin of Christmas cookies that Nick and I brought along. They're an old recipe for vinegar cookies that my babci has handed down to us. I am now responsible for bringing them every Christmas and everyone gushes over them this year. I give props to Nick who helped bake them while I was sick during the week. The night is simple and chill, but of course has the classic family conflict that I can expect from every gathering.
Beyonce plays in the background as I catch up with my cousins. Nick and I are the last to leave my parents' house so we can help clean up the dinner spread. We exchange small personal gifts and I show my dad the cable sweater I am making him for his late Christmas gift.
We eventually get home around 8 and there is so much parking in Fishtown (yay!). My dad gifted Nick a nice bottle of Irish whiskey so we ended the night with a dram and watched some Youtube videos. We are tired but glad the hustle of Christmas is over.
