Balance and the Holidays

It was gorgeous and sunny when I headed out this morning to yoga class, but still much too warm, probably in the upper 50s-lower 60s. We had a substitute today. Tulsa was sweet and enthusiastic, but like Eric, she also went pretty quick and I had a hard time keeping up with her. On the other hand, she mostly concentrated on Warrior poses and stretching, which I can generally do just fine.

Went right to the Collingswood Library after class ended. There wasn't really much to do there. I shelved a few DVDs, but it seemed as if the shelves had been organized recently. I organized the American Girl books upstairs, then did a few more DVDs and headed out.

I had plenty of other plans for today, anyway. I stopped at the CVS on the border of Oaklyn and Collingswood on the way home. I needed get one last gift card. Also picked up dish washing liquid and found a bag of Christmas mini York Peppermint Patties on sale. (They're still pretty expensive at the Acme. I'll have to wait until after Christmas to pick them up there.)

When I got in, I put on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and worked on the very last thing I needed to make for Christmas, a pumpkin pudding pie. Christmas Vacation is the third in a series of four movies about Clark Griswold and his peculiar family, and the only one to be set entirely at the Griswold's home. Clark is determined to have the "perfect" Christmas, with family gathered together over a huge tree to exchange presents and read favorite stories. As usual, what Clark imagines and reality are two entire different things. It'll take four bickering grandparents, the unexpected arrival of his non-too-bright hillbilly relatives, the destruction of the Christmas tree he brought home from the wilderness, and a SWAT team breaking in on Christmas Eve to teach him that the holidays may not be perfect, but that doesn't mean they can't be fun.

I went for a short walk after lunch. I wanted to give out the gifts I usually give to people in the neighborhood while I had time. I left Candy Cane Cupcakes for my landlady Miss Ellie on her front stoop and Cranberry Bread for my next-door neighbors at their front door. I gave the Dorias' their cupcakes at their store. Chatted with them a while about my hope to take classes in order to upgrade my web site skills and start my own business, then headed home.

It was still warm and sunny when I left, but there were dark clouds on the horizon. They didn't burst until well into my shift, though. Not that it made much difference. It was very busy all night, right up until a half-hour before I left at 9:30! I guess everyone's finally left the malls and are now preparing for Christmas and Hanukkah dinner. They were also finishing their shopping. More than half of many of the huge orders were buying as much as five hundred dollars worth of gift cards!

It was quiet enough when I left that I could go without a relief. It was showering, but I wasn't dragging out anyone on a rainy night three days before Christmas. I rode home and got damp.