Holidays

They're kind of a drag.

Without a family or partner in your city you have to go somewhere else for holiday happy times. That usually involved a long drive, plane trip, train ride or bus situation if you don't drive. When you have barely 24 hours off from work, it doesn't seem worth it try to make it a couple states over.

People put so much pressure on having a meaningful and fantastic day, flawless and planned out as much as possible: menu, presents, itinerary, wardrobe, etc. Well, that didn't happen for me at all this year. Christmas was a bit of a bust. Thank goodness I had Harmony make the Greyhound trip to Philly for two nights. Otherwise I would've been totally alone on the big day.

I didn't foresee that grocery stores and every other business (other than some Jewish and Asian establishments) in Philadelphia would be closed on the big day. I thought there would be time to get our groceries and compose a meal. Wrong. So we walked around Philly most of the morning, in the beautiful crisp, sunny air, looking for a place to eat or buy groceries. We shouted "Merry Christmas"s to strangers who responded in kind. We almost wanted to ask them if we could follow them to their destination home and be their sad guests.

We ate at a Vietnamese join on S 11th and it was kind of alright. But Harm's body didn't think so. We ended up having a movie marathon; 4.5 movies starting at about 2pm. Juno (tears shed), When Harry Met Sally (maybe one or two tears shed), The Family Stone (many tears shed), Love Actually (no tears, I believe), and Legally Blonde 2 (was started too late and didn't hold our interest enough to keep us awake, I suppose). It was nice to blubber like a little girl. Quite comforting and relieving.

But mom and dad are coming from Red Hook tomorrow. So we'll have a little more XMas before the New Year. And I'm bartending on New Years Eve night. Another night that people hem and haw and wring their hands over to make sure everything is glorious. There's a party downtown at a hotel where tickets cost $135 for five hours of open bar, food and entertainment. No thank you. I should make approximately $200, I hope, on the night, so that's nice.

2009 should be a weird year. A lot can happen; a lot will happen. A new Neko Case record is on its way.