Though the following bits have little to do with science fiction, I hope they will provide a little amusement. Just keep in mind that to my neighbors, our family IS the Addams Family. I think I am probably cousin Ophelia.
However egocentric this may be, the December holidays begin for me with my birthday on the 8th. When I was still in my parent's house, we always put up our Christmas tree on my birthday and I suppose that is how I got this notion of that date being the start of the festive season. So, my holiday "journal" starts...
DECEMBER 8, 1995.... The day was spent madly preparing Stone Hill Launch Times for printing. WOrk, which does get in the way of one's social life and hobbies on occasion, had prevented me from getting an earlier start on December's issue of the paper. Well, work and the fact that the computer had been ailing for nearly two months before.
The evening was the best part of the day. Most of the family from the Lovers Lane house and several friends met at Four Green Fields, an Irish pub for food and Irish music. WHile not all my friends are quite as keen on Irish music as I am, they agreed that the duo playing there was good and those that didn't care so much for the music could enjoy their Guinness in any case.
After supper, when the music began, I went to stand near the musicians to watch them as well as hear them better. A few songs into their first set, they played and sang "Black Velvet Band", a song about a man who gets into trouble with the law because of a prostitute who blames the theft of a watch she stole on him. I've known that song for years and I sang along with the chorus and some of the verses. WHen it was over, one of the musicians pointed to me and said, "You like dirty songs, huh?"
"Its my birthday," said I, "and I can hear a dirty song."
He then asked my name and he and his companion sang "Happy Birthday" to me. They pronounced my name in the Gaelic way, "Anya" rather than the usual "Ann." This was quite a break from family tradition as we have the cake and bad singing for birthdays and I had apple pie and good singing on this birthday. I quite enjoyed it. Sometimes,. traditions need to be broken.
DECEMBER 9, 1995.... I FINISHED MY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING !!! Ocay, I don't have the stocking stuffers, but they can be dealt with. There's always candy and that's easy to come by.
Leaving the New Mall with my bags from Victoria's Secret, Eddie Bauer, and Godiva made me feel like such a Yuppie. The feeling passed through as the realization came to me that I am neither young nor upwardly mobile. (I suppose my husband is upwardly mobile and that could reflect on me-well of course, it does, doesn't it? I sure couldn't afford Godiva on what I make from my job.) This is a good thing as I'm really much more comfortable with my sort of sixties flower child persona.
DECEMBER 10, 1996....This was Stone Hill meeting day. It was a small meeting. It seemed many of our members had other things to do or were feeling ill. Still, it was fun and we did manage to give 6 pints of blood to the blood drive. December and January are difficlut months for the blood bank as the need for blood goes up and the number of donations goes down. HTis occurs nationwide, so if you are able to give blood, please help out your fellow hemans and donate. It could be a new year's resolution for you. It's one that will make you feel good about yourself and help someone else.
DECEMBER 13, 1995....This was a day for communing with nature and my friend Linda whose birthday it was, and for not being at work as I usually am on Wednesdays.
Linda's desired location for birthday celebration was Lowry Park Zoo. She, her husband David, and I had a very pleasant stroll through the park. We also had the opportunity to see a reptiel show put on by the docents there. We were allowed to pet a baby alligator (wouldn't want to pet one any older) and to handle a spotted turtle and touch some sort of huge, but non poisonous snake. Just can't recall what kind of snake it was. It was a lovely, mostly green one though.
I was disappointed to find that they no longer have gibbons at Lowry Park. It used to be fun to go there and talk to them. They make a sort of "whoop whooooop" sound and could mimic it well enough to get them talking most times when I visitied them. It's a strange talent I know, but there you have it. I can make gibbon sounds.
We had lunch in the zoo's cafeteria. Though I am not a vegitarian, ther is something about eating meat at the zoo that makes me uncomfortable, so I had a veggie sandwich which was so big I ended up taking half of it home and having it at work the next day for my lunch. They have very good food at the zoo, and it's not expensive either
At the petting zoo, we got to see a kid get sneezed on by a llama. When you work around a lot of loud kids as I do, you do get a kind of pleasure out of seeing one of them get a a harmless, but disconcerting surprise such as that now and then. THey need a little reminding that they are not the masters of the univers that they think they are sometimes.
DECEMBER 16. 1995.... Go see "Jumanji" if you have not already. I saw it and it was great. Not only does it have neat effects, but there is internal logic in the story. What a concept- a fantasy of science ficiton movie that doesn't just rely on special effects. Good writing. Now that's something to shout about.
I saw the movie at the 20 theater complex in Brandon, of course, sitting in my preferred third row. The new theaters are NICE! The screens are really big and the sound is good and they have comfy chairs and ther's actually room for the legs of a long legged person like m. So, the renovation and additions to the Regency Square theaters get a "thumbs up" from me.
DECEMBER 17, 1995.... The Spaghetti Warehouse, in Ybor City, was the scene of the Stone Hill Christmas dinner. Much food was consumed, many presents exchanged and lots of fn was had by all. If you missed it, I'm sorry and I hope you'll be able to be with us for next year's event. It's not easy to explain why I like this event so well without getting terribly sappy, but let's just leave it at this; it always shows us how good a club that is made up of friends and not just "members" is and the Christmas spirit abounds.
DECEMBER 19, 1995.... This was the day of the MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) Christmas party. Pat Robison, our volunteer coordinator had asked me to help with the "Twelve Days of Christmas" MOSI sytle. My part was only the few words, "six purple shirts," but I gave it my all, and now the people who were there know Ann can sing. It's good to surprise the people you work with once in a while and since you can't have llamas around to sneeze on them, you have to find ways to do it yourself.
It was a very nice party. The exhibits department had decorated the auditorium for the occasion with great sytle and tere was a lot of delicious food. It was nice also because I got to see my buddy Jason, whom I used to get to work with a lot but no longer do, before he went home for Christmas. One of the best things about working at MOSI is that I get to be around some really great young people who work there. It bodes well for the future that there are eager, idealistic, intelligent, and kind young people out there. They aren't the kind you hear about on the news, but I get to see them and it makes me feel good.
DECEMBER 21, 1995.... This would have been an ordinary work day but wasn't because my Daddy came to visit me at MOSI. He said he just had to get out of Dodge (or rather, St. Augustine, where he lives in a really cool hose right on St. John's River), so he was coming to bring me our family's Christmas presents. Since I had to work, I dold him to come to the museum insead of my house. My supervisor for the day, Eric, is a nice guy who didn't mind if I took a bit of an unauthorized break to have a soda with Daddy and then give him the grand tour. One of my favorite things to do is give someone a tour of MOSI. I've been there a lot and I know the place pretty darn well. I do kind of gloss over the magnetism exhibit area though, as the phsics of it are rather lost on me. Physics just makes me crazy. It only tells you that things work a certain way, but not why, and that hurts my brain. I always want to know why.
It was Daddy's birthday, and it was special getting to see him and show him around and be a grown up. Even at 46, I find myself being the child whenever I'm around my parents. I guess that happens to everyone, but once in a while it's good to show your parents that you actually did make it to adulthood, or at least that you've learned how to fake it. I don't think haveing a llama around to sneeze on them would do the trick
DECEMBER 22, 1995.... Evening. Linda, Debbie, Richard and I went out to see the Christmas lights in our part of the county. There are some really ritzy neighborhoods near us, even though we are out here in the sticks. The funny thing we noted about a couple of displays, besides the consipicuous consumption of electricity, was the rather eclectic symbolism. Two homes had three crosses on the lawn. Now, I'm not a religious scholar, but didn't the cross come into play just, oh, about 33 years after the birth of Jesus? And, um, just exactly what did the presence of Mickey Mouse along with the three crosses on the one lawn mean?
DECEMBER 23,1995.... Kendall went out Christmas shopping. I asked him if he were out of his mind, but he was congratulating himself on having had the foresight to go out two days before Christmas instead of just one day before. I guess we just look at the world differently.
A group of us from Stone Hill went to see the play "Jekyll & Hyde." It's touring the country before going to Broadway. It was wonderful. Because Debbie crusaded to get me a seat where a visually impaired person could actually see the play, I had a front row seat. This was not only the first time I've seen a Broadway type musical (except for a couple at dinner theaters, and that's not really the same) but the first time I've seen a play and have been able to see that the people do have faces. Too cool!
DECEMBER 24,1995.... The day was spent quietly. Evening was the time for Christmas cheer. Several friends joined the Lovers Lane family for food and the "Twisted Christmas" carols we have on tape. Don't songs such as "Walking 'Round in Women's Underwear" and "There's Something Stuck up in the Chimney" and "The Restroom Door Said Gentlemen" epitomize the Christmas spirit for you? They do if you are as irreverent as we are. My thought about humor that pokes fun at religious observances and holidays is that God really wouldn't mind. He or she has to have a sense of humor. Just look at us humans. What could be funnier than we are?
DECEMBER 25, 1995.... WE HAD A WHITE CHRISTMAS! Yep. There was Florida Snow (frost) all over our lawn. Even the horses and mules had frost in their manes! I hope all of you reading this had as nice a Christmas Day as we did here. We had our usual opening of the presents at about seven-thirty in the morning, and had our usual Christmas breakfast with eggnog French Toast.
Cook's Corner: ....... You must start this project the night before the special day. To make a big batch of this breakfast treat, use about a loaf and a half of French braed, cut in slices. Whisk together one quart of eggnog, six eggs, about 1/4 cup powdered sugar and about 1 teaspoon nutmeg. Dip each piece of bread in the mixture and coat well. Place in large container (one that has a lid) to store. After you have coated all the bread, pour the rest of the mixture into the container with it and cover. Store in refrigerator overnight. In the morning, heat oven to 450 degrees F. and bake toast for half an hour. Set out powdered sugar and syrup for those who like to use such things on their toast. end of Cook's Corner
Since my son had to work at the MOSIMAX theater at the museum on Christmas Day, some of us made a point to see the new movie they have there, "Destiny in Space", in the morning before going to the regular theater to see "Dracula: Dead and Loving It."
We went to dinner at Bennigan's because we were all too lazy to cook this year. While I'm sure the waiters at the few restaurants that are open on Christmas Day make a killing in tips, I could understand why our waiter was so happy when we didn't want dessert. We didn't need it. We had three cartons of Ice cream and chocolate cake at home!
DECEMBER 31,1995..... The traditional New Year's Eve party was held at Linda and David Bennett's house and though it rained, we had still got a smallish display of fireworks at midnight and Mike LoBue played in the new year with Auld Lang Syne on his bagpipes. There was a good turn out of Stone Hill folks.
JANUARY 1, 1996.... Many of the partiers from the night before were around on New Year's Day for David's French toast and sausages breakfast. We seem to have a Frence toast theme going around the holidays, don't we? THere was much talk, Trivial Pursuit, and eating throughout the day. By evening, more than one person, having served his gluttonous desires for the past month was resolved to be more conservative in his eating habits during the new year. I've heard recently that the number one New Year's resolution in America is to lose weight. I belive it. It isn't mine because I don't make New Year's resolutions. This is not to say I couldn't use improvement. I just don't bother to make a resolution specific to the new year.
JANUARY 2, 1996.... Debbie celebrated her birthday with one more day to pig out before starting to be moderate in her diet. She maintains, and rightly so I think, that you should not have to be moderate on your birthday. Some of you may have noted that not only is January 2, Debbie's birthday, but it belongs to Isaac Asimov too. Not a bad person to have share your birthday if you are a science fiction reader.
JANUARY 4, 1996.......A REALLY BIG DAY FOR THE MORRIS FAMILY
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JANUARY 18, 1996.... As I write, this day is still in the future. It will be the seventeenth birthday of the Stone Hill SF Association. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STONE HILL and may you have many more.
And so ends this journal. I hope everyone has had wonderful times during the holidays and that nothing but good times will be ahead for us all.
STONE HILL FAMILY AND FRIENDS BIRTHDAYS FOR JANUARY
I am bringing back the birthday list. Now, if you didn't give me your birthday, you don't have any reason to complain if you don't see it here during the proper month. SO, if you haven't gotten your birthdate to me and would like to see it mentioned in S.H.L.T., be suer to send me the date to mark on my calender and I'll be glad to add it to the list. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL OF YOU celebrating in January!!!
Debbie Hicks--January 2
Mike Lindow, Jim Shippey--January 8
Stone Hill SF Association--January 18
Elaine Polk--January 28
A STONE'S THROW AWAY
The February Stone Hill meeting will be held at Linda and David Bennett's home at 12215 Spottswood Dr., Riverview. If you need directions, call 813-671-2859. This will be a blood drive meeting, and it's the one just before Valentine's Day, so give your fellow humans a nice Valentine and donate Blood. What could be a better gift than saving lives?
Till next time, take care and have fun!
Snail mail to: P.O. Box 2076, Riverview, FL 33569