yup that's me, making Christmas last as long as I want it to.

So I'm up here in Kelowna, about to see in the new year...if I can stay awake that late. No seriously, I slept really badly last night for some reason (could it have been the bottle of Bailey's I drained right before bed?) and only got about 4 hours' sleep so tonight I'm gonna sleep long and well. And really, what's there to stay up for? I've had my fabulous meal- my dad & stepmom always see that I eat like a queen while I'm here- watched my movie... Dad is listening to a British Invasion collection CD and Tom Jones is crooning "It's not unuuuuusual"... I could sleep soon. I'm reducing my horizons: true happiness is now a perfectly pan-fried piece of sole and watching "You Kill Me" about a gazillion times with a curly-haired Portuguese Water Dog slumped on your lap. No, but Ben Kingsley is to die for in this flick, silly though it is. I could fall in love. I could fall in love with a 65-year-old bald British actor playing a Polish-American alcoholic hitman. I always did have a thing for older men actually. Especially the odd ones that every other girl said "eewww" about. Who's with me here?
This beats the pants off last year's new year's eve, which was also the closing night of "Christmas in Wales" over in Chemainus. We drank at the closing night/New Year's party with one eye on the clock, because 3 of us had to take the ferry back to the mainland the following morning and go straight to rehearsals at the Arts Club for the Back Kitchen. There's too much pressure to have a super-great blast on NYEve, because it's the start of the New Year, for god's sake, and if you don't have the best time ever then what kind of loser are you? Well I say the hell with it. Stay home with your true love far away and fall in love with some celluloid substitute instead.
Um, Happy New Year to my 1.5 readers, whoever you are.

Happy (Burp) Christmas!

The festivities are winding down, the presents are open, the pile of junk food is being consumed at an alarming rate, the turkey leftovers are disappearing...
To me, the best part of Christmas is Christmas Eve, maybe because you can sense the anticipation of thousands of children in the air, the excitement of things to come. Christmas Day itself always feels bloated and quickly unexciting once the presents are open. I spent Christmas Eve day with my mom, preparing for the night's feast-ivities. J & his folks arrived soon after 5. The nicest surprise was that my brother was able to join us for a good few hours before going off to his night shift at the hospital (he loves that double-time pay). There was music (good ol' CBC), smoked oysters, sherry, and of course, the actual turkey dinner itself. Nicely lubricated by alcohol and background carols, the party flowed pleasantly. J's parents enjoyed themselves; freed from having to be the hostess from Hell, his mother could relax and enjoy herself. We all ate way too much of couse, but that's part of the fun. Then Mom & I took ourselves off later for the 11pm service at Christchurch Cathedral, which we've wanted to do fro years.
(This post was never completed, due to time constraints. But I'm posting it anyway)

"Tis the Sneezin'

A Merry Christmas Poem:(
Jon & I are stuffed-up and snotty
My bronchitis is still making me feel grotty
Christmas Day will probably find us in bed
Both of us heartily wishing we were dead
I played music with friends last night until one
Then walked 35 blocks home in the rain, which was dumb
Tonight there's another party- should I go?
Well, of course, the answer is "no"
But there'll be friends, and booze, and smoked salmon
Laughing and singing and lots of jammin'
So of course I'll be there, guaranteed
Even though I should probably be quarantined
*(the author accepts no responsibility for the lousy rhyming scheme of this poem, as she has now been sick for about 6 weeks and her brain is turning to mush. She has canker sores on her tongue that make speaking & eating challenging, a cold, and the aforementioned bronchitis is still around. Any suggestions on how to make this all go away would be heartily appreciated.)

it's too yucky outide- I think I'll blog some more.

Ooh- this is my first holiday season as a blogger. Welcome to what I hope will be an annual event I shall call...
Christmas Traditions I like to Mock (part one):

• "It's a Wonderful Life" No, it's not. If you put this lame-o movie in a cage match with "A Christmas Carol" (the B&W Alistair Sim version, natch) it would get its Yankee ass whupped. I am seldom more proud to have British roots than when I don't have to endure this crap with my family every year.

• Christmas Songs. This is the only time I fully support Christian over Secular. "O Come Emmanual"? Benjamin Brittain's "Ceremony of Carols"? "Lo How a Rose"? Pure, silvery magic, especially when sung by little treble boys whose voices have not yet broken. "I'll Be Home For Christmas"? "The Christmas Song" & my mom's personal anthem of anathema "The Little Drummer Boy"? Dreck.
  

• Feeling obliged to buy presents for everyone in your extended circle when you can't afford it. This blows. Don't give in to the insanity! Buy prezzies for the ones you love. Give everyone else a Christmas card. Seriously.
  

• Getting guilted into doing things you really don't want to do/can't afford to do/don't care about. Also blows. No wonder so many people stress out over Christmas! If you have elderly, lonely parents or other family who really need you over the holidays then by all means spend time with 'em, even if you hate them. On the other hand... If you are baking 10,0000000 cookies your waistline doesn't need, hosting parties for people because you feel you should, not because you actually like them, and worrying what the neighbours will think if you don't clamber all over your icy roof stapling reindeer to the shingles then you are officially sad. And by the way, there are enough people doing their one-day-a year at the soup kitchen over the holidays. Be charitable to someone in need in February and I'll buy it.
  

Ok, that's all the mockery for now. If you have an impassioned argument about the merits of "Blue Christmas" (or "White Christmas", or any other Christmas 'song'), I'd love to hear it. Ditto any defences of "IAWL", although I will never believe it's better than "Christmas Carol". Never.

if I eat Almond Brittle for breakfast will it be any more bad for me than if I ate it later in the day?

So yesterday was the first ever Axis Theatre Gingerbread House Build-Off at my mom's place. The cast of "The Emperor's New Threads" worked hard to create these G-bread masterpieces, which my mom had provided the raw materials for: homemade gingerbread slabs, melted chocolate for "mortar", icing sugar for "snow" M&Ms and jelly beans and candy canes for detailing. (Note to readers: not only is my mom the coolest mom ever but she is probably the only stage manager you will ever want to have, especially if you like parties.)Josue went for the trad approach, Tanya's was a bit like an ancient Greek monument, and Stephano created a lovely villa, complete with wall and garden. A good time was had by all, and as the fabulous Mme. Anderson has written another TYA show, we all may have more work next year- here's hoping! After trying our hardest not to gorge too much on treats like Brie, hommous, shortbread, pizza and chicken drumsticks, J & I went off down the road to dinner with Galia & Terence and stuffed more food into ourselves- I love this time of year! G& T gave us some lovely baked treats for a present (see the title of today's post for details). Aw, now I've made myself hungry!
I have to reiterate how grateful I am to who-/whatever gave me the perfect family and in-laws who don't drive me crazy, although they're best in small doses. This year, to dilute them, my mom will actually be hosting our Christmas Eve party with J's folks, bless her. After many years of study I have decided that the reason my mom gives such good party is that:

• she is warm & welcoming
  
• she never sweats the small stuff
  
• she always plays great background music
  
• her cooking is without peer
• she genuinely enjoys having people over

This year I will be flying up to Kelowna to see Dad & June close to New Year's eve and staying for a few days. This involves a little sacrifice on my part since my father and stepmom are seldom awake after 10pm and so are not exactly the ideal people to be seeing in the new year with. But as long as they have some booze in the house the dogs & I can take care of ourselves thankyouverymuch.

new opportunities

On Saturday night, a new band was born. It might become the one band I've hoped of playing in for years, or our combined crazy schedules might pull it apart. But I'm hoping we can make it work. There's an excitement, an electricity when we play together, even though it's not a polished sound yet. The potential is awesome- I'll have to practice my butt off to keep up with these guys.
We stood in front of a bunch of theatre people, some who've known me since I was just starting out as a musician, and played just a few songs for the Leaky Heaven fundraiser- I must say it was very satisfying to look and sound good in front of people I want to work with and an old crush was there, which was extra fun- and they loved it! Here are some of the things we heard:
"You guys sound as if you've been playing together for years!"
"What great singing!"
"I've never seen anyone play the accordion with such passion...and such eroticism!" Seriously, I'm not making this up.
Anyway, I have to run, but keep your fingers crossed for me. This could be awesome.

D'you think...

...that eating a wheel of shortbread with breakfast might, just might, play havoc with my plans to look really slim 'n sexy by Spring??? Nah, didn't think so.
It is so intensely grey outside that it's taking all my willpower to change clothes and waddle off to the gym (to combat the negative effects of said shortbread), so I'm putting it off by writing this blog.
I think I'm slowly coming back to the land of the living after spending a diverting time in the land of the bronchially infected, with a not-so-brief foray into the Valley of the Jetlagged. Still really enjoying my sleep, though- J says "it's about time," having been a long-time fan of 11-hour "naps".
Yesterday I didn't get out of my pj's until sometime in the afternoon! On the bright side though, I did finish 3 arrangements of Eastern European tunes for the hopefully reborn Redboot Trio. I would post a sound clip here, but there seems to be no way to do that. I find there is something so satisfying about arranging music- when the pieces just seem to fit together perfectly. I, who have no time or patience for jigsaw puzzles, Scrabble, Sudoku or any of that stuff, will happily mess around with a song until it sounds just right. Hours will pass like minutes (as they did yesterday) and hopefully at the end of it I come out of my daze with some tasty new material. Can't wait to test these songs out on Russ & Amelia!
Ok, must go to the gym now. Can't put it off any more!