Monday Tuesday Saturday
Lately i think of time as if some maniac was tearing apart the pages in a calendar, frantically, at twice the usual pace. I have no idea where days and even full weeks are going to.

How the hell did i get to December 18th with my hair up in a bun, no christmas shopping done, no plans on ever actually getting it done, plus a work deadline for next Tuesday that appears to have produced itself out of the mere blue.

Oh, and i'm turning 32 next week. Geez. Somebody get me a filofax and a gong.

Do you hang mistletoe?
That time of the year, yep. Thought i celebrated with a meme i knicked out at Sherina's. Feel veeery free to participate, as usual.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I'll have a big huge monster mug of hot chocolate, please.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Oh he does his wrapping all right. With ribbons and tags and everything.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I prefer the white lights because i 'm always slightly worried of overdoing it with the xmas decorations, but i have to say the Mountain Family used coloured lights on their m a s s i v e tree this year and it looks terrific.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I don't but maybe i should because it's so beautiful.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Around the second week of December. We bought our tree last Saturday and that's when it all went up. Last year i made some cardboard stars and this year it's our first with the tree. I'm hoping we'll get to stack boxes with great christmas stuff over time.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? A typical Spanish pastry called 'polvorones'. More on them here. And i love the turkey.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? It never fails to make me smile when i remember the incredibly long lists of presents i used to hand out to my mother so she would let Santa know what i wanted. Such a spoiled little brat. But my favourite memory is going to bed with a twist in the stomach from all the excitement awaiting the following morning.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? With time and common sense, i suppose. It was disappointing to have to stop believing, though.

9. Do youa gift on Christmas Eve? We did, for a few years, when both my sister and i were old enough. But then the M&m's arrived and we had Santa deliver the pressies overnight again.

10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Polvorones, of course, and a glass of red wine.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it, specially at this time of year. Geez, sometimes i sound like a live in a greetings card from Hallmark.

12. Can you ice skate? I think i could give it a go.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? It's hard to pick one. A ring my mother gave me (it was a birthday present, but it's so close to xmas i could fit into the category). A box of coloured stationary my sister made from scratch.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? This year, celebrating them with Pablo and Bruno for the first time. I like getting together, the smell of special dinner roasting in the oven, the squealings of delight from the kids.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? I'm not a big fan of the traditional xmas desserts, but anything with chocolate will make my day.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? The carols and wrapping the presents.

17. What tops your tree? A star.

18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? Both, very much.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? 'White Christmas' and 'Duerme Mi Bien'.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? The white and red striped canes? Love them!

A long countdown
I was about to publish an entry about going to a bridal boutique and watching my friend try on the gowns. About how well and happy she looked in them. About the place itself, with the circus of materials, embroideries and colours surrounding us. I was about to tell you this wedding is going to take place on a September afternoon, 2006, which gives us a very long countdown. So i was going to let you know that i'm looking forward so much to that day, i may start biting my nails any day now.

But then my computer crashed.

Boys and girls, have a nice week. We've been broadcasting from a guest account at Pablo's PC today. See you soon, who knows from where.

The bliss is over
I had a dreamless night last night. At least i think i did.

My sister crashed her car in the evening, while i was buckling Muffin up in the back seat. She had the inside lights on to let me do it properly and she reared into something that broke her back window.

Prior to that, a man jumped off the window onto our street, minutes before i left home to pick Bruno up at day care. I walked to the car only to find the police had blocked an area where a large something lay covered in white sheets from a hospital. People (not a lot, not a few) stood there, in silence. A family. A bunch of school girls in their uniform.

I went to sleep feeling as exhausted as i have ever been. Muscles twitched and all. It's what you get from, well, my life in this case. It's also what you get after a bliss of 17 months without a period. The bliss is over. I tried to stretch my neck into the pillow and closed my eyes so fast i almost got dizzy.

No dreams last night.

Endless
How many hours can a baby play with his mother's bag or a __________ [insert any other object that is not properly a toy here] while comfortably sitting on the bed?









And just how many blurry pictures can a girl take of the whole sequence?