Of Snow, Family, and Deflowering a Turkey
We got snow here Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and, for the first time this year, it was enough to stick. It’s only a couple inches, but it helps make the city look more like December. What also helps is the temperatures in the thirties and below every time I’ve left the apartment recently.
I found out at approximately 1:00 AM this morning that Chris, the fourth night guy, decided he couldn’t cut it and quit without any prior notice. This means that I’m back to working six nights a week, with the short night Monday night instead of Thursday night. This isn’t a problem, except that I was counting on having the Monday night of Christmas off to spend with my family. Fortunately, as I only work three hours and it’s Christmas so we shouldn’t be that busy, Dave’s stated that I can basically skip work that night.
Apart from finding coverage for work, our Christmas plans are starting to shape up nicely. Tentatively, we’ll be here until the morning of the 22nd, then up to Chicago to visit my mom on the 22nd and 23rd. From there we’re taking Gary down to my dad’s on the 23rd, then I get to come back here for an additional night of working. Then Christmas Eve and Christmas day are at my dad’s, with the 26th finding us heading to Columbus, IN, to visit Angela’s family. The evening/night of the 26th we’re driving to Peoria for a family get together on the 27th, then back here in time for work that night. While it sounds like a lot of driving, it’s kinda necessary to see everyone that needs to be seen, and better than going to Arkansas like last year.
On the subject of Holidays: Thanksgiving went pretty well. Angela and I drove up to Chicago Thursday morning to have dinner with my mom, her boyfriend Cary, and my younger brother Gary. Most of the cooking was done when we got there, but we were just in time to help Gary with the turkey. The particular recipe my mom was using included buttering the turkey, then inserting butter under the skin between the skin and the meat of the bird, most likely as a substitute to basting. It turned out really well, but the actual application of butter betwixt bird and skin was a rather interesting operation, and prompted many jokes not appropriate for mixed company.
