Here Comes the Blizzard
Posted on December 26, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 39 Comments
We’re supposed to get eight to ten inches of snow in the next, like, four hours, with high winds and the possibility of power outages, and I have a project I’m a little bit late on, so now I will ignore the rest of you until I have finished it and/or the power goes out and all the mammals at the Scalzi Compound have to huddle together under a blanket for warmth. So I might be away for a bit.
In the meantime, to keep you busy: So, how was Christmas? Tell us in the comments.
JOHN.
JOHN.
I got a FOOD PROCESSOR for Christmas! And then I spent Christmas money plus “we’re sorry you’re leaving us” work gift voucher on a STAND MIXER.
IT’S RED, JOHN. IT’S SO PRETTY.
Also yesterday was all sunshine and blue seas, thank you, New Zealand.
Spent yesterday with (part of) my spouse’s side of the family. I’m very fond of them, but OH. MY. GOD. As a group, they can be a bit overwhelming for this introvert.
Have fun doing whatever your project is and here’s hoping your power won’t go out.
Christmas was very nice. I spend it with my sister and her family, together with my mother and brother. We don’t make much of a fuss about present between us adults, but my sister’s children were obviously thrilled about that part. It was nice to do the traditional thing with going around the tree, singing, eating traditional Christmas food and such for a change. It’s been a long time since I’ve done that.
I got a game of Uno, which I’ve just found out is an American game. Wikipedia told me so. Either way – it might be my favourite game, or at last my favourite card game.
None of the kids could make it home for the holiday this year so we had our very first “Chinese dinner Christmas”. WHile nobody sang Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra we did have a very nice meal and no stress
Just to rub it in: Christmas day started a heat wave here in Perth. We’re looking at 38C plus temperatures for the rest of 2012 (including today). If you don’t believe me, check what the Bureau of Meteorology has to day about it.
So I spent today sitting in between the computer and the evaporative cooler, wearing a very skimpy sarong and doing as little as possible, drinking a lot of cold water.
Yesterday was spent much the same, pausing only to change into proper clothes for an evening visit to my parents, where we had leftover prawns from their Christmas dinner, and talked until very late. Oh, and my partner, Himself, gave me a copy of Redshirts as a gift, so I read that during the day yesterday, and it’s a very good book.
Christmas Eve with family, Christmas Day was me & my husband. Nice presents, tasty meal, a good speech from the Queen, an entertaining Dr Who Christmas special, lots of knitting & reading, and an energetic walk today. Going well!
A quiet family Christmas, with all the usual trimmings. In the evening, did my own private Christmas ritual, watched the SCTV Staff Christmas Party from 1983(?), the one where Johnny LaRue (John Candy) ends up sprawled on a ice-covered Melonville sidewalk at three in the morning, doing a hysterical drunken stream-of-consciousness monologue about talent and the South Pole and Andy Devine and eating the last mule at dawn and calling Admiral Byrd, and of course, crane shots. The stuff of legend.
Also received the gorgeous two-volume Library of America set of nine classic 1950s SF novels, so in between laughs, I got to browse through Pohl and Sturgeon and Brackett and Bester and last but never least, Fritz Leiber.
Good books, as much as good friends, make for a good Christmas.
Took the kids to see “Hotel Translyvania,” prepped living room for painting, and went to Star Thai for dinner. Yum!
OMG. 10″! And we were comlaining this morning because it’s 21 deg. today (will be about 50 later).
I did absolutely nothing yesterday and enjoyed every minute of it. Well, I did cook and drink a few beers. The previous few days were pretty hectic and I was glad to have the quiet time alone.
Keep warm and hope your power doesn’t go out.
My daughter was with her Dad’s family so I had a wonderful eat junk and cozy up with Netflix day.
But…
Please keep your gorram blizzard – Southern Ontario does not want it. We are having our family Christmas tomorrow and I want to be able to get there!
Talked to two of my sisters who live 2K miles away. A walk in the fields with my dog while enjoying a good cigar. Real egg nog with good bourbon in it. All of the sons were here along with the new daughter-in-law. Ribeyes on the grill. Capped the day by finishing a reread of Ringworld.
That blizzard of yours is hitting us next tonight. Good times.
I got lots of chocolate for Christmas, plus a giant pen and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Spent a lovely several hours with the inlaws, then a not-so-lovely less-than-an-hour with the Parental Units. Hadn’t actually seen them for a holiday since Thanksgiving ’08. Last night just reinforced our desire to never spend a holiday with them again (oh, and their 43rd [!] anniversary’s tomorrow).
I’m having a spinal MRI done later this afternoon.
Fun times! :-)
Daughter got a lot of comic collections (Batgirl, Supergirl, Black Widow, etc) as well as Womanthology-Heroic. She also got some Star Wars and jet fighter models (glue and paint; are “more fun than Legos”).
We spent the afternoon at my Mom’s. All her sisters and a brother showed up, with their extended families. Grampa’s little house had more than 50 people in there. He’d have been proud.
Lovely family Christmas here in MN with a balmy 0 degrees – really need to move to Australia. My son got his first laptop so we lost him to Minecraft interspersed with some Lord of the Rings Legos. I also got a new laptop; thank you for your research. However, after setting up my son’s laptop, mine is still in the box. I officially hate the new windows. My daughter the future geologist got the rock polisher of her dreams and a guitar so she spent Christmas day serenading us about rocks. My hubby enjoyed his travel books and I spent time reading and watching musicals with my mom. We don’t have a lot of extended family but we did drop cookies and treats off at all of our neighbors. Why do Christmas leftovers never taste quite as good as Thanksgiving leftovers?
John, stop hoarding all teh blizzards for yourself!
Sincerely,
A concerned resident of northern Ohio
The ususal family Christmas with my in-laws down in the Twin Cities. My sisters and their families are all in Oregon (2), and in California (1) – where I grew up (Northern California SF area, not down south like John). White Christmas here in Minnesota, but no recent snow. Your snow storm went to the south of us. We have chilly temperatures here, -2 this morning when I got up, around zero yesterday morning, as MNmom says, but beautiful sunny days for the driving back and forth from St Cloud to the Cities. Had much fun with the family and everyone got what they wanted and more. I agree with MNmom that somehow the Christmas leftovers seem not as awesome as the Thansgiving leftovers, but still nice. Peace and love to all!
Other than my son waking up at 4am (he’s 11 – he should know better) and rousing the entire house by 5, it was a lovely day. I felt very slothful because we did no laundry – washed no dishes – barely fed the pets – and ran around in jammies until mid-afternoon. Bliss.
Had a frugal but loving Christmas. Got the Avengers soundtrack, which was the only thing I specifically asked for. Went caroling and swept up passersby into our caroling mob, which was fun.
@ MNmom: “My daughter the future geologist got the rock polisher of her dreams and a guitar so she spent Christmas day serenading us about rocks.”
So … you daughter is now a rock guitarist? What kind of pick does she use?
We celebrated the Winter Solstice on Friday. I got a bottle of Bailelys Irish Creme & a gift card to the local mall. Then my mechanic called & said he had a car I might be interested in. ( The transmission in my old car died a year & a half ago; I’ve been without a car since then.) So now I have a new-to me vehicle as well, which makes me very happy.
Monday & Tuesday were spent catching up on DVDs of Haven, and later watching Dr Who. Knitting and long naps also happened. And it was good,
I got a stuffed Portal turret! It’s adorable and makes a shooting sound when you activate its motion sensor. And if you knock it over it says “I don’t hate you,” etc. And I also got a graphics card for my gaming computer, and a new solid state drive that we promptly had to give to my boyfriend’s parents because their hard drive died precisely when we came to visit. I’ll be getting a new one though.
I was so on edge from spending time with family of various descriptions that when I got home last night, I promptly got drunk on tequila. Which was a bad idea because I feel terrible this morning, but oh well. And now I’ve woken up to THUNDERSNOW. O_o Go blizzard go!
Modified Traditional Jewish Christmas- Skyfall on the 24th, lunch at the local kohser pizza joint on the 25th. My in-laws and grandma-in-law have been in town since Thursday, and are heading home today, and my brother and his family are arriving tomorrow and staying through the weekend. Fun, but crowded house.
We cought the tail end of the snow that hit the northern part of New Mexico, ended up with four inches and a white Christmas. I cooked Christmas dinner for my folks, pork roast, roasted potatos, salad, green beans with bacon, baguette, blackberry & pumpkin pie with homemade whip cream.
In addition to the usual assortment of gift cards, chocolates, and scotch, I received Cormac McCarthy’s The Border Trilogy in hardcover, The Letters of Earnest Hemingway Vol 1(of 12) and the collected works of Kate Chopin.
It’s bloody cold out so I’m going to spend the rest of my day by the fire finishing Sons of Anarchy and getting some reading one.
My brother bought me “Fuzzy Nation.” As he said, “It’s a great story, and it has our name in it!” That was a fun conversation.
@Karen Healey:
I already had the food processor and stand mixer (sadly, white), but my wife gave me a hand-turned rolling pin, rock maple with rosewood handles. I just made myself a new pie plate (testing a different stoneware body), so I see a pie in my future.
@Bearpaw
Somehow, I forgot to give her any picks..so it is finger strumming right now. Not so much rock as alternative country / punk. She is a riot. Her two favorite musicians are Pink and Taylor Swift so she is into making up her own songs. She also got her very first Tamora Pierce book this year so I am sure her wooden sword will soon make a reappearance.
I sat around yesterday and played games with immediate family. Monopoly, Spades, some other stuff. Watched basketball. Listened to some alt rock because I detest the vast majority of Christmas music.
My son came over for Christmas dinner, as his wife and daughter were in California, visiting her family. (He couldn’t get time off work to go with them.) I baked Cornish Game Hens on a bed of Stovetop stuffing. That way my husband and son could have stuffing and I could avoid it. My low-carb diet is working wonders on my blood sugar, and the weight loss has been nice, too.
As I live a few hours north of John, his leftover snow is coming down on my house as I type. Glad I don’t have to go anywhere tonight. Happy Boxing Day, everyone!
I think the leftovers are different because of two things: you’ve just had feast left-overs, a month ago, and you’re going to be having them again in a week; and because the motivation of the feast, itself, rings differently in my heart. Also, more distractions.
Crisp, we got a dusting on the driveway in Eagan on Christmas Eve which was pretty. Spice and I mostly were to home, exchanging days of being sick with a 24 hour thing that seemed to take 72 for each of us. So we called rather than went, and asked people to please stay away, and had long chats. In many ways one of our best Christmases ever, snuggled together, watching reruns, talking to family and old friends, laughing.
I hope yours was as well or even better.
Over here in the S.F. Bay Area, we get rain, lots of. For a mild El Nino year, walking out into a rainstorm gave me an idea of how soaked cats feel.
Gift-giving was fun, with a book of interviews with film directors about their first films and a nice shiny wok being very welcome. But the true joy of the season was touching base with a visiting niece from Denver and a distant loved one in Southern California.
Rained a bunch, as Peter said.
I got and gave BOOKS by the pound. Had some ham, watched the Doctor, gave new catnip mousies to the critters.
As I mentioned to you on Twitter, my son finished reading OLD MAN’S WAR two days before Christmas and requested the rest of the Scalzi collection – which was promptly purchased in hard copy because he didn’t want to read my e-books. (If he likes hard copy, who am I to argue? I’m the same with some things.)
The moment I thought you’d like hearing, however, happened on Christmas Eve. We were flipping channels and noticed that STARSHIP TROOPERS was on TV.
Son: “OLD MAN’S WAR is like Heinlein’s original STARSHIP TROOPERS novel – but better.”
A Christmas present for you – high praise from a very difficult critic indeed.
Had family over, then visited friends.
Got marker for signed copies of Redshirts and Your Hate Mail Will be Graded.
Watched John Carter and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,
Good Times.
I spent Christmas Eve with my little sister and my nephew, cooking, and Christmas Day with them and my two teenage great-nephews opening presents, playing games, watching Dr. Who, and watching my sister sleep. She’s the brains of the outfit, the only one of us who has a grip on what’s going on, and our mainstay. We don’t do enough for her, any of us, and she needs and deserves better. She made Christmas happen for all of us, with presents wrapped two days early. She loves Christmas and she was happy to have her son and grandsons with her.
My wife and I went to my sister’s (as we usually do), where we hung out, nibbled, opened pressies, and ate dinner, then came home and watched The Avengers and the Dr Who Christmas special. Low key (and Loki.) It’s the second Christmas since my mother-in-law passed away and milady is still getting used to it, but she was more in the mood for it this year than last year.
Christmas Day in New Zealand was a record-breaker, with sunny skies and high temperatures. It was 27C at our place for most of the afternoon and had gone all the way down to 23C by the time we hit the sack just after midnight.
We ate Christmas Dinner on the lawn in the shade of MIL’s dogwood tree. It was fantastic.
I cooked Christmas Eve dinner for 30. Then on Boxing Day, we drove home through the blizzard!
I know I’m really behind on adding my comment about how my Christmas was but between catching up on sleep and playing with my new Kndl ( yes I did get it for xmas just like I’ve mentioned in previous posts) this is the 1st chance I’ve gotten. I spent the day with my daughter, my fiancee and my step father. Other than the fact that my oven-yes my oven NOT me overcooked my ham it was a really good day. The ham wasn’t totally ruined and I used a brand new recipe for the glaze which went over really well. Everybody liked their gifts. Especially my lovely daughter who although she expected the xbox 360 she got never expected the Kinect we got her also. I have a feeling I will be playing around with my new toy for weeks to come LOL, I just can’t help myself. I just have to remember control , control. And that nothing in life is ever really free in the end.