Sibylle and I have had a wonderful long holiday weekend at home this year.
Saturday the weather was decidedly nasty, with freezing rain and sleet in the morning followed by snow all afternoon and evening. We stayed inside and had a wonderful lazy day. Sunday the sun was out and the skies were clear, so we ventured out to Legends, the big outdoor mall on the northwest side of the city. We also tried to visit the Chateau Avalon hotel, where we are thinking about treating ourselves to a night out. Turns out they only give tours between the hours of 12:00 pm and 2:00 pm; basically after housekeeping is done and before check-in starts. We may return there today to have the tour.
We did some window shopping at Legends and had a nice cafe au lait and cookie in Scooter’s Coffeehouse. We are starting to look at rings, and went into a couple of jewelry stores to see what they had available.
Monday was another beautiful winter day, with tons of sun shining brightly off the new snow. We both wanted to get another gift or two and talked about taking separate shopping trips in the afternoon. When the time came to actually go our separate ways we decided it would be possible, and preferable, to go together, and use our cell phones to coordinate movement within the various stores. It was a wonderful afternoon out with all the other last-minute shoppers.
We did some grocery shopping and had fresh fish, with rice, for dinner, before watching It’s A Wonderful Life. Around 9:30 we went down town to see the “midnight” service at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. My lower back couldn’t stand the pew so we didn’t stay for the entire service, but we did hear some marvelous caroling, accompanied by harp and oboe.
At midnight we exchanged gifts.
Christmas day we spent cooking and playing Christmas songs on the piano. Sibylle’s oldest son, Jonathan, came up in the lat afternoon and shared our dinner with us while we watched Love Actually. It was a beautiful, relaxed day.
Today I am off, using the last of my two annual floating holidays before it expires. Perhaps we’ll go for a walk in the sunshine, or have lunch out, or just enjoy each others company
