Every year, it seems like the holidays almost sneak up on me. That doesn't make any logical sense, since I know full well that December 25th is Christmas and it's not a moveable feast. Still - this year, there were a few too many irons in the fire and I never got cards sent out. That's a shame, since I like Christmas cards (or "holiday greetings," if you prefer; whatever hangs your holly) a lot. I actually like sitting down with a stack of cards, an address book, and festive stamps. Alas, this year, it simply was not to be. At first, I told myself that I'd get them out as New Year's cards, or maybe Epiphany - nope, that's not going to happen either.
And since one of my pseudo-resolutions is to decreased the amount of beating myself up for not being a constantly efficient juggler of the fiery swords of home/work/writing/personal lives, I'm letting it go. I'm sorry for that, but I'm also accepting of it.
But if I had written a Christmas letter, it might have gone something like this:
Dear Family and Friends:
It's been an eventful year here in the Nest. FryDaddy and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary and he's now a semester away from being a bachelor - at least on paper! (And while there may certainly be a graduation party in May, it will in no way be a "bachelor party." I've made my voice heard on this one!) So let's look back on 2011:
January - A freak snow and ice storms caused the semester to get off to a late start. I resolved to ask myself often during this year, "How can I enjoy this more?" Not bad as resolutions go, and it's one I'm going to continue to work on in the coming year. I started teaching an introduction to film course that focused on science fiction and enjoyed it quite a bit. FryDaddy and I celebrated our joint birthday (weird, I know) and kept slogging through the long-distance marriage trial as he continued with his studies at UNC-Greensboro.
March - FryDaddy and I spent spring break in the exotic locale of the hospital. All is well, and he's now an improved cyborg. No mutant powers seem to have manifested.
April - We both traveled to San Antonio, Texas to present original work at the national Popular Culture/American Culture Association conference. We always enjoy the PCA conferences and this one involved Tex-Mex food and the Alamo. A beautiful, hospitable city that we hope to visit again.
May - For our first anniversary, we took a sightseeing trip up to Washington, DC. While we certainly didn't see everything, we had a blast and it was fun to get reacquainted after a semester of (mostly) being separated. We continued the separation with summer school sessions, though. Eyes on the prize, people!
June - I hosted what I hope becomes an annual event - a "girls only" party involving big hats and the Belmont horse race. We also added a small grey kitten to our household in June. We were a little concerned about what Spooky (60 plus pound shepherd mix) would think, but no worries. The two are best friends and often curl up together to sleep. That's cute - seeing Spooky attempting to groom a kitten, though - that's priceless!
July - With FryDaddy home for the last part of the summer, we spent a few days finally re-arranging the kitchen to suit a 6'4" cook. It's amazing how much room a pot rack can buy you!
August - It was my turn to be in the hospital bed as I had sinus and throat surgery. Minor in the big scheme of things, but uncomfortable and I'm glad it's in the rear view mirror of the year. Much improvement, though, so yes, it was worth it!
October - With the fall semester in full swing, we took off to spend fall break (where else?) at a conference. The regional PCA was held in New Orleans and we had bon temps galore, mon amis! I'd go back again in a heartbeat! Fantastic people, warm reception for the work we'd been doing and did I mention the food? In October, Dad was also inducted into the Davidson County Sports Hall of Fame - his college baseball team [he played catcher] won the college World Series in 1955.
Throughout the year, we were involved in the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011, which was run by a Canadian we met through (where else?) conferences. Both of us had individual work published as part of this, as well as working together on a few pieces.
In no way does this cover everything that happened this year, but it's a good sampling. 2011 was actually pretty good to us and we're hoping the Mayans were wrong about 2012!
Love to all in the coming year!
Mockingbird and FryDaddy
No comments:
Post a Comment