Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas highlights

We arrived at Spouse's mom's house Tues at 9pm, and as usual her house was like an oven. Rather than heeding my advice, given to him in the car on our way to her house, that Spouse not argue with her about the thermostat but simply lower it when she wasn't looking, he argued with her. Fortunately, they don't hold grudges so 10 minutes after the argument they'd both all but forgotten it. (FYI - Spouse's mom keeps the door to our bedroom closed so the heat doesn't go in, and we close the heat vent and cover it with a large telephone book. This keeps our bedroom at a comfortable temperature.)

Wed evening, Christmas eve, we went to Spouse's sister's house to celebrate their mom's 79th birthday. Spouse's brothers Frank, Paul, and Louis were also there with their families. We had a very nice time eating and talking. We gave Spouse's mom a ring and earrings set that she loved. I had brought all the left over cookies, pies, and dessert squares from our party, so they were placed on the dining table with pies and cookies brought or given by others. We also had a birthday cake.

Thurs, Christmas day, I picked up my aunt Mary and brought her to Spouse's mom's house and we exchanged gifts with her. A little later we all went to Spouse's sister's house for Christmas dinner, which consisted of stuffed shells, gnocchi, meatballs, hot and sweet sausages in tomato sauce, salad, garlic bread, and orange sherbet/jello mold. For dessert we had more of the left over desserts I'd brought. After dinner we played 'Rock Band' on their Wii, which was a lot of fun.

Fri was supposed to be the day Spouse & I would visit my friend Lisa, with whom we stayed in NYC, followed by a visit with my cousin and her husband. Unfortunately both had to be cancelled because I woke up with a vagus nerve flare up. For some people overstimulation of the vagus nerve results in fainting. For me it results in extreme dizziness and vomiting. There is no "cure", and the only treatment that works for me is to lie down until it goes away. This usually takes 8-10 hours for me, which is why we had to cancel our visits. Bummer. I was finally able to sit upright at around 6pm so Spouse, his mom and I ate dinner and watched TV the rest of the night. Spouse's sister, brother-in-law, and their kids came over for a while, which was nice.

Sat morning Spouse, his mom, and I met his sister for breakfast at Silver Diner, then packed up the car and came home. It was a nice holiday, but I was quite happy to get home. As usual, our dog Jordan was a pain in the neck at Spouse's mom's house, spitting up and peeing several times in the house, which she rarely does at home. I swear, that dog gives us a fit when we take her to Spouse's mom's.

It was so warm yesterday that I went for a walk around town with no jacket. Someone said it was 70 degrees. Spouse & I tried a new Italian restaurant for dinner but didn't like it, then I went to the Purple Parrot to sing karaoke. My friend Tony was there so we sat together. I also saw Danny and Dougie, Russ, and Mark.

Today was another very warm day. We went for a walk on the boardwalk and saw people in shorts and flip flops - on December 28th! We also saw people driving with their convertible tops down. This must be what its like to spend Christmas in the FL or southern CA.

Crush du Jour: Bernardo Melo Berneto

7 comments:

Joie Mayfield said...

I'm sorry you had an episode. :( Sounds like a Christmas to remember, though. :) Thanks for sharing with us. :)

Java said...

That's really warm! We've had unseasonably warm temps here, too, comparable to yours.

Sounds like a mostly enjoyable Christmas, except for the vagus nerve down-time day. Glad it passed finally. So, are you back to work, back to "normal" tomorrow? Have a good one, wherever it finds you.

A Lewis said...

We are always lowering the temperature at myparent's house....and, thankfully, they can't hear too well so they don't hear us fooling with it! Plus, we open the window (even in the winter!) and cover up the heat vent too. Sounds like we're both doing the same things!

RAD said...

What a splendid holiday! It has warmed up here..into the 40 plus range-- after last few weeks this is bikini weather for us too! :-)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like overall a good holiday. Mine too was very nice, got to meet my new nephew Camorre. (Pix on my blog and flickr!)

The drive to NC was horrible, 16 hours with lots of traffic in the urban areas. But then we didn't leave Providence until almost noontime which virtually guaranteed we'd be stuck in traffic. If you're going south the prime window is between 10PM and 7AM. Anything else and you're screwed.

I did note that coming back on a Sunday and leaving at 7AM only took 11 hours. Another thing I noted is that toll booths are the biggest cause of traffic congestion. I wrote about this on my blog.

Regards your vagus nerve issues I have something similar but it's inner ear related. Had lots of ear infections as a kid and they come back with a vengeance later in life. So I'm partially deaf in my left ear and I get the occasional wicked vertigo with requisite vomiting and general malaise when anything causes the pressure of the inner ear to rise, like allergies or colds.

I'm almost to the point where I can control it now. It's much better than it used to be. But it sucks, no doubt about it.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you guys had a VERY busy trip trying to see everyone. Sorry to hear about the vagus nerve flare up. Episodes like that can be maddening, especially when you are getting excited about seeing family and relatives. I'm glad you were able to make the most of it.

Victor said...

This must be what its like to spend Christmas in the FL or southern CA.

..or in Australia :-)