This evening, my father told us about how he used to drink vodka with his friends in his youth - they would ice it in the bottle (we put ours in the ice tray of the freezer overnight), then pour it into shot glasses. Before drinking it, they’d sprinkle some black pepper over the top and when the pepper sank to the bottom (since the vodka is slightly more viscous after being chilled overnight), it was time to do the shot.

So that’s what my father, mother, brother and I did tonight after dinner. My sister and other brother didn’t participate.

Anyway, it’s a good way to drink it and I’ll have to remember this in case it ever becomes necessary to drink vodka - if I’m stuck in a spy film or other such improbable situation where I must do a vodka shot to save someone’s life. I felt NOTHING going down - just cold. A few minutes later, I felt the beginnings of a warm flush, but that’s gone now.

I’m procrastinating now. My goal for tonight/tomorrow is to finally FINISH cleaning my room. I’ve started several times, but each time late nights at work or other such activities prevented me from completing this unappetizing task. And I haven’t been too torn up about it. However, at this point it’s sort of ridiculous. I wanted to fire up my Playstation and play a silly thumb-mashing fighter game but realized that I didn’t have a place to sit within controller reach of the TV/PS2 setup. SO - that’s the straw that broke this camel’s back. If I can’t sit down on Christmas Day and waste time playing a violent video game, it’s time to clean!!

As part of my current procrastination, I updated my amazon.com wishlist (that’s not there as a hint - more of a “look what silly things I want!” example - I’m not a “cam-girl” or anything.) Not that my family or friends or anyone uses this as a list of things to get me for Christmas or my birthday, but it helps me keep track of things I want. I pared it down QUITE a bit since most of the movies I wanted have been rented through Netflix.

I’m so glad I don’t have work tomorrow. I will actually enjoy cleaning since I’ll be able to sleep in and still get WORK accomplished. Mind you, I greatly enjoy my job and don’t mind going and working at all. I just like sleeping late when it’s raining heavily - like it is tonight. There is possible thunder, according to weather.com, and I am in the darkest green (high precipitation) areas in NJ (basically where the word NEW YORK is plastered) as indicated on the map below:

Hee-hee. I have my MP3s on random right now and of the 1500 songs in this particular folder, the random selection my computer bestowed upon me is Kelis’ “Milkshake.” Whenever I hear this song now, the image of Ben Stiller in a fat suit, topless, “shakin’ it” is burned onto my mind. Thanks, Dodgeball! It’s a great movie - don’t get me wrong. I own it. I paid for it with my own hard-earned money.

Never let it be said that my liberal arts education at a somewhat prestigious university prevents me from enjoying some stupid fun.

I guess I should find some other ways of procrastinating… like… uh… knitting or finishing my current book so I can start reading a new one. Having one going has never stopped me from starting a new one before, but if one needs to make/find excuses, they will appear.

It’s just begun to rain rather heavily here. No white Christmas - just a wet one. No matter.

Wherever you are, dear readers, at home or abroad, have a nice Christmas, however you end up celebrating.

Now go watch the South Park “Woodland Critter Christmas” or some Rankin & Bass claymation or “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Have some tea or hot cocoa (tell anyone who asks that they’re rich in antioxidants and to get off your back), and enjoy another day or two off of work.

Today was a long day of cooking and cleaning and cooking and cleaning and then trying to get the family together and maintain “the peace” since this year, the role of The Grinch was played by my brother. He took every possible opportunity to make disparaging and angry and offensive remarks about the various members of the family.

He even refused to participate in our traditional breaking of the bread before dinner. When my mother threatened to not let him have dinner with us, he kinda cooperated and just wished everyone, “happy holidays” in a heartless and generic manner. Just to clarify this tradition, our family is, on paper anyway, Roman Catholic. Every year, our family in Poland - still very observant - send us holy communion wafer which they’ve already symbolically broken and “shared” with us.

Before we sit down to eat, each member of the family takes a piece of the wafer and goes to every other member of the family, breaks off a piece, gives it to the other person while wishing them something for the new year. For example, I wished my father continued good health and relaxation and more cruises, and wished my sister a good final semester at school and success in her future endeavors seeking a career in art, etc. My brother, instead of even giving us each a generic, “Be happy,” crapped out and just said, “Happy holidays.” Honestly.

Then we ate our meatless Christmas Eve dinner. There was really good Polish dried mushroom soup (it defies description - it’s just really REALLY good and the mushrooms can only be purchased at a Polish dry goods store, as far as I’ve seen), red borscht with hard-boiled egg slices, tilapia filet, carp, sauerkraut (Polak style with veggies), various forms of herring (yuck), fresh Polish rye bread, mushroom-filled pierogi, potato and cheese filled pierogi and sweet farmer cheese-filled pierogi, all home-made. Then we cleaned up, took a breather, and after about 45 minutes, I brewed up some tea for everyone and set out the cheesecake with strawberry sauce, the pear and pecan tart my mother baked and the poppyseed roll.

The superstition/legend there is that the amount of poppyseeds you eat on Christmas Eve is indicative of the amount of good luck you’ll have in the coming year. I didn’t have any, but that’s because the LAST thing I need is poppyseeds stuck in the areas of my gums around my impacted wisdom teeth.

After an hour or so delay, during which we watched the beginning of Diamonds are Forever on Spike TV’s “008 Days of 007″ James Bond marathon, we gathered everyone together to open presents. My parents really made out like bandits this year and got some good gifts from us kids.

I got some good things, too. Most of the items on my “list” were covered, and the only thing I wanted more than others and didn’t get is forthcoming… a new watch. My parents saw lots of nice watches while on their cruise, but weren’t sure which one I would like. They don’t really “get” my tastes. My mother likes watches that are very feminine and sort of, well, boring. She got herself the very traditional generic Movado while on her cruise (1/2 off at the duty free shops somewhere in the Caribbean) and that’s just not my style, as lovely as those are. So, I showed them the watch that I liked on the Fossil website and I think they may have to order it from there since my brother was unable to find it at our local Fossil retailers. Meh. I’m so difficult.

I didn’t get the Thundercats DVD boxed set, and I didn’t get a new pair of gloves, but I did get some lovely silver jewelry from Mexico, courtesy of my parents, as well as the Golden Girls season 1 DVD set, the new Beatles book, CSS pocket reference guide, gift certificate to my salon, Henri Bendel “Fig” candle, and a bottle of one of my two favorite perfumes (Dolce & Gabbana “Light Blue”).

Now I am tired and have set about watching disc one of volume one of “The Adventures of Pete and Pete.” Such a delight - the theme song brought all sorts of memories flooding back… just an early 90s kind of thing. I was early into my high school career… yet, I found this Nickelodeon show fantastically entertaining.

Oh, the wisdom tooth pain, though. Every time my sister or my mom gave me a hug tonight, they chose to put their heads against the side of my head with the massive pain. Even repeated mention that this is the “owie” side of my head did nothing to correct the behavior. Oh, well. We suffer for family.

I’m tired, though. Physically - totally drained. My knees, my feet, my elbows, my wrists - especially - just all sorts of tired and in pain. Even my eyes hurt from the smoke from the fireplace.

I think I can sleep in a little tomorrow. I should get up moderately on-time so I can help my mom prepare the big kielbasa-fest that is Christmas morning breakfast. Mmmm. All sorts of kielbasa - I’ll have to photograph and describe since most non-Polaks know of only one kind of kielbasa… the kind that Hillshire Farms sells as “Polska Kielbasa” in the refrigerated meat section of the supermarket. That’s OK in a pinch and if you don’t know any better, but the stuff we’ve got tomorrow is the real, honest-to-goodness kind… and we have about 6 or 7 varieties! Can you imagine?? VARIETY! KIELBASA!

Yuppers.

I woke up at 9:30 and immediately started doing the whole Hausfrau thing for Christmas. My mother and father went out to get fresh fish and other last-minute things for tonight’s dinner, my brothers were sleeping and my sister is at work.

I had the house to myself, in a sense. SO - on went the Christmas music in the living room, additional ornaments on the tree, I ironed the WHITE Christmas tablecloth (I know, an exceptionally bad idea, but we use it once a year so we only have to bleach out stains once a year) and set the table. Soup bowls upside down on dinner plates to prevent collection of dust… little details I enjoy. I have yet to iron the red cloth napkins, but that’s my next task.

In the meantime, LJ called me. Many months ago, he was complaining about not being able to get a good haircut. Since I’m always glad to pimp out my stylist to anyone in need of a good one, I gave him the name and phone number of the salon I go to and he made an appointment for a pre-Christmas haircut for this morning. He went and called me (apparently the second he walked out of the salon doors) to tell me that my stylist is awesome, the haircut is awesome and he is beyond grateful for the recommendation.

This makes me happy. Bringing satisfaction to friends and additional business to the salon I frequent. Yay!

My eyebrows need some shaping. Too much information? Not really. I don’t have nasty eyebrows or anything - I’m just really obsessive about keeping them perfect.

My eyes are burning from:

1) the residual smoke from the oven cleaning cycle my mother just ran
2) the frying of shallots which is almost as bad as onions
3) DRY hot air

The worst part is that I am unable to locate my eyedrops and am too lazy to venture out into the cold and buy some. I know I have three or more bottles of eyedrops in here somewhere from allergy season a few months back. Finding them is the issue.

Oh, well.

I made a kick-ass cheesecake today and bought frozen strawberries so I can make a strawberry sauce to pour over it tomorrow. Mmmm. Delicious. I even got my father onboard with the cheesecake by telling him that for this holiday, I’ll be going with strawberry topping. He’s a sucker for anything involving strawberries. Mwahahahaha.

Right now, I’m creating a CD cover for a mix CD I made for my brother for Christmas. It’s actually just something I threw together since he asked for cash towards his XM satellite radio and I felt crappy just throwing cash in an envelope. SO, I made a mix CD and will call it “The Most Expensive Mix CD Ever” on the cover. I’ll include the money under the CD tray so it’s visible through the clear back. He’ll have to snap out the CD to get to the $75 in cash, but at least he’ll get a mix CD out of it and a more clever wrapping job.

That’s how I like to roll, yo.

For now, I’m going to wash my face and see if rinsing my eyes with water helps a little. Then I’ll read and watch “The New Legend of Shaolin” with Jet Li. I can’t knit tonight because the carpal tunnel got really bad this afternoon - I had my wrist wrapped up in an Ace bandage and ice pack for about an hour to bring down the inflammation and ease the pain.

I haven’t got time for the pain.

That was really cheesy. My apologies. I’m sure I’ve managed to get that song stuck in a few heads as a result, huh? Oh, well. Think of it as my experiment in viral marketing. Or something.

Then I got up and made this.

Now I go and bake.

I really should not be allowed to watch movies based on Jane Austen novels. The way that most women probably react to Nicholas Sparks novels or shit like that is how I get when faced with pale pasty British men doing a poor job of hiding their affections for equally pasty women. I get melty.

Maybe it’s because I’m equally pasty and this proves that there’s hope for us all. Except that the pasty chick in this one is played by Kate Winslet and there is a world of difference between Miss Kate and Miss Eva. Though I admired her work in “Heavenly Creatures” and in “Quills.” She’s a severely underrated actress.

Anyway. My parents returned from their cruise today. They hit up Jamaica, Belize, Mexico and several other places over the last 10 days. They’re both CRAZY tan - my mother is honestly the color of a glazed ham.

I am so friggin’ tired and for NO reason - that I can think of. I got into bed at 7:30 and sort of dozed while reading on and off. Now I’ve been watching “Sense and Sensibility” and dozing a wee bit more on and off. I want to finish this book, but I’m at that point where I won’t remember what I’m reading since I’m half asleep.

Perhaps I’ll call it a night and sleep as long as I need to - not setting the alarm since I don’t have work tomorrow - and let things work out that way. I shan’t force myself to keep certain hours. It’s a four day weekend, for goodness’ sake!

I plan on getting some good website time in over those few days since Christmas, thankfully, is not my magnum opus as Thanksgiving was. My mother gets Christmas in all its Polish glory. My responsibility is to bake a cheesecake, fry some Polish pastries, and perhaps bake up some cookies to boot.

In short, I am Dessert Bitch.

Honestly, I prefer it. I like cooking, but the process of handmaking pierogi is menial and time-consuming and my mother is quite particular about how the ends are sealed together around the filling, how thick the dough is, etc. It’s best to leave her to her own devices as far as that is concerned.

It’s almost 10. I’m gonna get to bed. My carpal tunnel wrist has been hurting me today A LOT ever since I tried to hold open a door at the parking garage and didn’t count on how heavy it would be. It hit me pretty hard and bent that wrist backwards pretty sharply. I think it might be classified as a mild sprain, or just really damnably sore. I used a cold compress earlier but it’s still ouchie. So no knitting. No pushups. Just sleep.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.

P.S. I want a white Christmas, but I think it will just be a wet Christmas. Fog with periods of rain, 47 degrees. So sayeth the Weather Channel.

I’m at work. There are about 7 people here on this floor. Everyone else is GAWN for the holiday or stuck home due to the NYC transit strike.

It’s really kind of eerie. Instead of the steady buzz/murmur of many people typing and talking on the phone, I can hear individual conversations from many desks and offices away… it’s that quiet.

Allow me to share the legal disclaimer I included with the gift I bestowed upon my secret Santa. It was taken from a greeting card I purchased, so I can’t claim creative genius here:

Merry Christmas*
*Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion, or secular persuasions of your choice, with respect for the religious secular persuasions and/or traditions of others or their choice not to practice religious or secular practices at all, and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society are herewith acknowledged, and without regard to race, creed, age, color, physical ability, religious faith, belief or sexual orientation of the recipient forthwith known as the wishee. By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.

…but the body is so goddamn tired.

My feet are still recovering from the wearing of the heels yesterday and, although I wore super soft cushy socks and comfy shoes today, I still needed to soak my feet when I got home.

I spent almost my entire workday at a recording studio in midtown Manhattan working on the project that I wrote/scripted. It was really interesting to see how the whole process goes in the studio. For a 25 minute recording, we were there from 10 a.m. until 1:00. Then we went to lunch at a really wonderful little Italian restaurant nearby where I had cream of artichoke soup, a variety of homemade sausages, and ravioli stuffed with prosciutto, salami, beef and some cheese I cannot recall. We (my boss and the two gentlemen we’re working with) ordered a few dishes and then just shared them all amongst ourselves for maximum tastiness and variety.

After lunch, the waitress served us some of their grappa. It was strong and delicious. Just so y’all know,

Grappa is an Italian grape-based spirit of between 40% and 50% alcohol by volume (80 to 100 proof). It is made from the distillation of pomace (for which one occasionally sees the French word marc), i.e., the residue of grapes (including the stems and seeds) that were pressed for the winemaking process. It was originally made to prevent wastage by using the leftovers at the end of the wine season.

So… bedtime. I am done with today.