Well. It's happened. The holidays are upon us. Slimmie no workie again until 3 January 2008. But the holidays season has been crazy round here. No different than anywhere I guess, but I'm looking forward to some R+R just the same.
The month began with a night out organised by my team at work. 15 or so of us ate out at a really nice Italian restaurant. I had a gorgeous crab risotto. Two nights later was the AOL Broadband Christmas party, an annual highlight on the Waterford social calendar. All the bars in town know when we'll be kicking it up. We take over a place called The Forum, a nightclub and performance space. This year's agenda included a Dixieland marching band, acrobats, Tarot card readers, an all percussion band, an 80s cover band, and a nationally syndicated DJ. The usual assortment of alcohol abuse, karaoke, and general silliness abounds of course. A late night. Very late by my standards. But a real gas; some craic.
Next was a contest at work called "Pimp your Pod". The work stations are organised into "pods," round groups of up to 6 staff. Each team was assigned a country to represent, and we got Spain. We decorated in gold and yellow to the hilt, threw in a few caganer (google it), and then threw a tapas party. I made caldo gallego, a traditional soup served at Christmas time in Spain. Stole the show. We swept the contest and earned ourselves a party on the company with a budget of 100 euro a head. Super fun.
In the midst of all this I turned 39: entering my 40th year! Egad! To celebrate, Polly whisked me away to Dublin for a three day weekend (we get our birthday off). We stayed at our favorite guest house, drank some meaty pints, ate some delicious sushi, and wandered the streets of the capital. One of the unexpected treats was running into a Starbucks and discovering that they have eggnog lattes! Much rejoicing. Eggnog doesn't seem to be much of a thing here in Waterford: ain't seen it anywhere. Contemplated making my own, but a mixer would really help. We had a blast, despite the fact that I was just getting over a cold and PK was in its grip.
Now we're winding up for the main events: Grosserman and Frau Doktor will be coming over for an orphan's Christmas dinner. Christmas seems really quite similar here to back in the States. Turkey and ham dinner. Lots o Santa Claus (often called Santy) everywhere. Maybe a tad bit more emphasis on the liquid variety of Christmas cheer... We've accumulated a garage full of wine ourselves.
Thanks to everyone who've sent packages and cards. It's really great to get little pieces of home. We're just about ready. It's Irish tradition to clean the house down to the floorboards in preparation; I always did that myself anyhow, and that should occupy a good part of Christmas Eve eve. PK's much adored Christmas shrub, er, excuse me, "tree," is trimmed and the presents are piling up.
Well. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a great New Year to all of ye. We miss you all and hope to see some of you in 2008.
Nollaig Shona!
