Holiday revelry

As I sit here writing, a rousing rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock" is playing on the all-Christmas music station. And again, I am reminded of why I hate "Jingle Bell Rock".

Christmas is upon us, people. You may not have noticed in the balmy, sunny 50 degree weather we're having in the greater Chicagoland area, but I assure you that it is true. A week from today, I will be playing with my nephew, and eating lots of fattening carbohydrates, Lord willin' and the river don't rise (as my good friend Nancy likes to say). It truly is a wonderful life.

I had a Christmas party this weekend at my apartment, with my fabulous roommate Kristin, with 40 of our friends from church. Seriously, we kick butt when throwing parties. We have a talent for them that borders on ridiculous. The good news is, everyone had a blast. The bad news is, I did something weird to my foot on Saturday evening, and by the end of the party, I couldn't put any weight at all on my foot, and it was swollen and extremely painful. It is now subsiding quickly, so that's good news. The better news is that I actually sat down at one of my parties. This never happens! I hopped myself up on 7 cups of vodka punch, and called it a night. If people needed something from the kitchen, I sent them to the kitchen to get it themselves. It was incredibly liberating. And painful. But liberating. I decided that I need to enjoy my parties more. And Kristin, Curtis, and Scott were fabulous to me, cleaning up the party mess and ordering me to the couch. I was thankful that I have such good friends looking out for me! (Shoving bags of ice down my slippers counts very highly on the friend points scale!)

Yesterday, after a great church servcie and watching the Bears eke out a nail-biting overtime win with our good (and incredibly talented photographer) friend Jen (look for her work to sell for serious cash, people), Scott and I bummed around for a while, talking, napping (me), and watching football (Scott), then decided to suck it up and head downtown for the 10:30p.m. showing of "The Departed". We both wanted to see this movie badly, and we both wanted to see it in the theater, and we weren't sure that it was still going to be around in the theaters next weekend. I know that a ton of people have already seen this movie, so I'm preaching to the choir here, but it was a GREAT movie that I really, really enjoyed. It was a great day and night, actually. The knowledge of which is getting me through my day with only 4 hours of sleep in me (we were leaving the theater at 1:00 a.m., I didn't get to bed until 2:00!!). I don't regret it at all, it was well worth it. But I do have a killer headache. :)

Look for my list of my top movies of 2006, coming soon. In the meantime, as the sun shines brightly in my window and I hear "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" in the background, and am reminded once again that I hate "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas", happy holidays to all. There is a holiness to this time of year that supercedes all the cheesiness and commercialism that I ponder in my heart for the entire rest of the year. May your heart be touched by it, as well.