State of the Onion Address

Posted December 20, 2004 at 12:47 EST under daily. Updated December 21, 2004 at 10:46 EST.

From the horror, the horror dept.:

Ecogrrl and I are planning on a very quiet holiday this year. I've done altogether too much high-stress C, Java and COBOL hacking these past few weeks. E appears to have reached a critical point in her Masters work. I think both of us are running a bit emotionally and, well, spiritually on empty. What a year. We are both looking forward to a low-stress, low-impact and relaxing holiday. Of course, the old casa del mono always has a candle in the window for cold travellers in need of a cocktail or glass of good porter.

So, even though we've officially cancelled gifting this year, Elbie dropped by yesterday with some gift-wrapped goodness. Since he's going away to a foreign land over Christmas, we decided to open his gifts now. To make it more festive we had home-made eggnog (which is far superior to that dreck you get at the store) and trimmed le cactus de noël. Placing lights and festive trimmings on the aloe barbadensis is almost a tradition around here, now that we've done it two years in a row.

Ecogrrl received the entire one-volume Bone anthology, which I've also been meaning to read. I got three classic Astérix titles en français. They are all good used hardcovers that have found a new home. I now have three French-language books that I can actually comprehend!

Dr. Matt has made an appearance in his long-running rôle as a recurring Very Special Guest Star. Our hilarious sitcom would not be the same without him. I understand that he will soon be on his way to even more foreign lands, where further hilarity will ensue (cue laugh-track.)

Ecogrrl and I are not so footloose and fancy free this year; and we are much happier for it. Le grand plan stratégique is to chef up this nice sirloin tip roast we got from the local market (the one where the cows are reported to be both drug-free and happy) and crack open a bottle of vintage (1999) bordeaux. For the roast, I'm thinking of a simple dry-rub with sage, salt and thyme, roasted very rare and served au jus. Then we plan to curl up on the big orange couch, alternating power-naps with reading comics and large-print books containing only the shortest of words.

We do have to fulfill one holiday outing: a short trip to a not-so-foreign land to visit with ecogrrl's immediate family.

The trip to Canada's near-north has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control. The holidays have just become much, much easier.