Celebrating BoopityBoops first birthday turned out to be a quiet affair. I felt it was only fair to warn the invitees that I was battling a nasty cold and some of them opted not to come. I didn’t blame them. I really didn’t want to have to explain to my horde of siblings that I was the reason our 90 year old dad had to be hospitalized for bronchitis or pneumonia.
It was still a nice little party. We had lasagna and cupcakes. The girls seemed to enjoy both. We ate off the fancy china in the dining room. The babies exhibited delightful table manners.
I didn’t buy them a birthday present. I’d meant to pull two presents out of the mountain of stuff I got them for Christmas but I forgot. I figured at their age, they wouldn’t care about presents.
I was wrong. Boopity didn’t care but Boop’s face lit up at the sight of the gift her Mom had thought to hold on to. Clearly, that girl has figured out that brightly wrapped packages mean fun. Both girls loved the set of board books they received. Tasty!
Jay and I have a lovely New Year’s Eve tradition. We stay home. The only time we went to a party on New Year’s Eve was the year the family rented the park house across the street for a party. It was a cold year and I remember people skating even though it was well below zero.
Mostly, though, we stay in. New Year’s Eve is amateur night. People drink too much, try too hard and that kind of desperation never leads to fun. Even if you find a good party, you gotta get home afterwards.
When our kids were tiny, we had a nice dinner, a parade, sent them to bed and crashed early. Sometimes we had a glass of wine but mostly we didn’t. When they got old enough to go to parties, we shipped them all off to places where they could spend the night and we had the house to ourselves.
Jay would cook us a nice steak dinner, we’d have a good bottle of wine, some upscale chocolate and be asleep by 10:30.
Now our kids are grown. Not having to get rid of your kids on New Year’s Eve is one of the many perks of middle age. Another perk is that you know which cuts of steak are your favorite and you can afford it. Ditto with the wine.
We’re going on the second week of a cold snap here. The temperature’s plunged below zero on Christmas day and have only barely risen above that mark for an hour or so in midafternoon for the last seven days. Mostly it’s been double digit negatives.
Zack and I have also been battling the cold the babies gave us for Christmas. Zack’s has turned into full blown bronchitis. I don’t think mine is that bad. I was going to hunker down all day and take it easy. Jay said I shouldn’t go to church (it was Sunday) but Zack pointed out that if what I was worried about was infecting others, the early evening mass was usually sparsely attended, I could sit in the back, away from everyone and besides, someone is always sick in church.
Just after lunch, Katie called and said Adam was willing to spend the afternoon alone with the girls so did I want to go see The Greatest Showman with her?
This was a minor dilemma. If I was well enough to go to a movie, I couldn’t skip mass, so we had to find a show that gave me enough time to get to church by 5:30.
We found a theater that had a 2:30 show. It doesn’t have stadium seating but it also charges about half the price that other theater’s do.
I liked it even better the second time and Katie loved it as much as I did!!
Only once during the show did I have to excuse myself. I’d taken some cold meds before I left the house, to suppress my cough, but half way through the movie, my sinuses suddenly drained. I had to run out or explode all over the theater.
I made it to the bathroom, coughed wet and messy all over everything and then discovered the stall I’d lunged into had no toilet paper. Fortunately, I was alone in the place and no one had to see my gross, drippy self go stall to stall, looking for something to soak up the mess that had been in my head. Uuuck. I think illness is God’s way of reminding us that these bodies we live in are grotesque and disgusting.
Afterward, we stood in the lobby talking about how much we loved it and what our favorite parts were.
“I know why you loved it, even though you hate the circus, Mom!” Katie said. “There wasn’t a clown in sight!”
She’s right! There were barely any animals (and they were obviously CGI) and no clowns at all; just great singing and dancing, hot guys and weird people. All things I love.
I got home in plenty of time to get to Mass. Before I left the house, I asked Zack if he were coming with me.
“No.” he croaked. “I didn’t go to a movie.”
I ran into MJ and Bean at church. I didn’t touch them or cough at them.
Later, we were watching Al Roker, all bundled up against the cold in Time’s Square. He complained about the cold.
“Wait a minute,” I said “Did he just say it was 13 degrees? Above?!”
We all burst out laughing. Then Jay put on a stocking hat and went out into our backyard which was 27 degrees colder than Times Square to cook our steaks.
We’re Minnesotans. We don’t zip our parkas for 13 above.
Jay grilled two huge, beautiful porterhouse steaks for us. We had salad on the side and instead of wine, a bit of whiskey, as a nod to the cold. We had some dark chocolate for dessert.
We had a fire in the fireplace and actually stayed up to watch the very boring ball drop.
We had a terrific 2017. It was mostly given over to getting to know Boopity Boop, an endeavor I expect to enjoy for the rest of my life. Josie graduated from Wisconsin and moved back to town. I expect 2018 to continue this trend. Here’s hoping yours is terrific, too!