'Twas the day before Christmas Eve...

Today there was a huge snowstorm. Lots and lots of centimetres of snow fell. I was planning on finishing my Christmas shopping today, but when I got up (at 9am, believe it or not!) Dad was home telling me that he had been sent home from work since they were closing shop because of the weather, so I had better postpone my shopping for a day. I shrugged. A day spent snowed in watching TV sounded good to me. So, I spent my morning watching all of the The Surreal Lifes on Much More Music, with some interesting shows during the commercials, including MuchMusic's 20 Hottest Men of 2004 (Justin Timberlake was #3 and Orlando Bloom was #2. Yay!) and a Britney Spears profile (since Andrew is a big fan and claims that it goes deeper than sex appeal, I thought that I should learn about her. My feelings about her now are somewhat improved than they were before, but she seems very un-self-aware).

Anyway, my Mom returned home from work (safely, thank goodness) and we decided to watch movies this afternoon. We got Raising Helen on Pay-Per-View. It was as good as I was expecting. You knew how it was going to end right from the beginning, but it was enjoyable. Good snow day fluff. After the movie, the weather had cleared a bit, so Mom and I went to Stratford and I finished my Christmas shopping! Yay! Now I just need to wrap everything.

Andrew called tonight after dinner. The power is out at his parents' house because of a large ice storm (apparently it's wreaked havoc all across the US Midwest) so he hasn't been able to enjoy their hot tub yet. Oh darn. I'm trying to feel sympathy, but I can't. (Read my entries in the November Archives for my power outage experiences.)

Right when Andrew called, Mom and I got another movie on Pay-Per-View called A Home at the End of the World, written by the same guy who did The Hours. This movie was less fluff and more interesting. I definitely did not know how it would end. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I think I mostly liked it. Weird. It's one I'll keep thinking about for a while. I'm sure that the book makes a lot more sense, and I will have to look for it.

Speaking of books, I highly recommend The Book of Daniel by E.L. Doctorow. I have been re-reading it and reading secondary sources on it for my thesis, and I just fall more and more in love with it each time. It gives me so much to think about. And this book is actually accessible and enjoyable for the non-English major lay person. It is loosely based on the Rosenburg trial in the 50s, but deals with the legacy for the children of the couple. The book is narrated by Daniel (hence the name), who is the eldest son of the Isaacsons, a couple executed for treason. Any more than this and I get into the complicated juicy stuff, so you have to find it. It's everything I love: political, emotional, postmodern, interesting, unique... In short, awesome.

OK, enough ranting. There will probably be many more posts about this book over the course of the next 8 months of thesis-writing. In other news, Christmas Eve is tomorrow! Christmas Eve is the big celebration in my immediate family. My sister and her family come over, and we exchange gifts and stocking gifts, and eat dinner together and play games. It should be a good time. Anie is 3 now, and so adorably excited over Christmas and her "wots of pwesents". She is almost as excited about my presents as her own.

I tried to knit myself a scarf today. I bought some of that feathery yarn to make a scarf like the ones that are so popular these days. I bought Mom some for Christmas too, in a different colour. Mine is a gorgeous flame orangey colour, while hers is a nice blue. Anyway. I've given up the knitting, at least for tonight. I restarted my scarf 3-4 times because of mistakes, then called it quits. Mom has started it again for me, and so far it is error free. I might pick it up again later. This yarn, because of its featheredness, is quite hard to work with. I like knitting, but it takes so much concentration for me, and is not a good activity for daydreamers, because, at least in my experience, you forget what stitch or what row you just completed, and then following a pattern is out the window. Anyway, I might say screw the pattern and just do it in plain garter stitch. If it eventually works for me, I might post a picture here.

That's all I have to say for now. I hope everyone gets in some fun family time this holiday. Post comments telling me how your holidays are going. Or send me e-mail. Either way.