Monday, December 05, 2005

'Tis the Season to...Sleep

I love Christmas time and all of its trappings. From carols to cookies, I'm a happy girl this time of year. I love buying presents for my loved ones. I love receiving presents. I love decking Millie out in her candy cane collar.

The one thing I don't love is that I almost always get some kind of cold at Christmas time. The kind that knocks me on my bum. This year is no exception.

I was suffering at Thanksgiving, and all through Black Friday, as well, but managed okay with the help of Claritin and aspirin (ahh, drugs for better living...). That cold went away and then came back a few days ago. I went to bed at 10:00 last night, and set the alarm clock for 6:00. I wake up to music instead of beeping, so I always check the volume to make sure it's loud enough. It was. So I still don't know how, exactly, I hit the snooze button every 9 minutes for a little over TWO hours this morning before groggily coming to at 8:18. I don't remember doing it.

I was feeling like I'd been run over by an elephant, so I called Mervyn's and told them not to leave a candle in the window for me this afternoon. Perfect attendance? I no longer care. All I cared about was not having to drive to Mervyn's, work five hours, and drive back in the dark. As it is, I could barely pay attention to the road driving to school. Mervyn's is two, almost three times, the drive that school is.

I got home from school at 1:00, changed into pajamas and had lunch. At 2:00 I dragged myself upstairs to bed with a book. By 3:00 I was feeling like sleeping. I vaguely remembering hearing a parent look in on me once. When I woke up, it was 6:30 and there was a piece of mail on my bed. Ten hours of sleep last night and three this afternoon. I guess I needed it!

Anyway, enough about being sick and more about my favorite time of year.

On Saturday, Mom, Dad and I drove over to Port Townsend to have a nice lunch and poke around the shops. Port Townsend is a lovely Victorian-era town about 20 miles from us. It was supposed to be Washington's major port city but someone directed the railroad to some little town called Seattle instead.

Anyway, I took some pics, because, I'll say it again, I have my Vivitar back!

Here's the main street (Water Street) of Port Townsend:

There was a lot going on Saturday, because they were having a tree-lighting ceremony that night. There were Victorian carolers...

...and a horse-drawn carriage giving people rides:


Of course, Port Townsend (having "port" in the name is a dead giveaway) is on the water:

It is also near historic Fort Worden, where the Oh-my-God-Richard-Gere-really-was-a-hottie-back-then movie, "An Officer and a Gentleman," was primarily filmed. Mom and Dad drove me over so I could see:

And what would any day out be without a picture of a sign? I started out with pics of funny signs but I've moved into the not-funny-just-cool variety now. They make for interesting pictures.

So that was Saturday. Sunday, Mom and I set out early to Mervyn's and the mall. I got a lot of Christmas shopping done (Dad and Susanne are done!) and a couple of things for myself (new undies--what girl doesn't love new undies?).

We got home in time to give me a few hours to tally grades. I'm proud of my kids--a lot of them have shaped up from a rocky start to the term and earned A's and B's. A few have F's because they refuse to participate. But that's middle school for you.

So here I am...it's Monday and I'm getting over a cold. I don't have to work at the store again 'till Friday, and I should be feeling better by then, especially if I let myself sleep.

Cheers,

Meg

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