Monday, December 26, 2005
I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas
Christmas Eve. OK, my body's figured out that I'm on vacation. I slept nearly the whole day, dreaming excruciatingly boring dreams that must indicate some sort of work detox. Dreaming about clearing out my e-mail inbox? Wow, how... unimaginative. Still woozy, I had a light supper of Syrah and GF scourtins , then curled up under the Christmas lights to watch the MST3K version of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and my DVD of the Pee-Wee Herman Christmas Special. Christmas Day. Brunch at Mom's, dinner at Aunt Marcy's. Food, laughter, paper and ribbons flying, oohs, ahhs, "thank yous"... and photos. Lots of photos. Remember that Far Side cartoon where the pack of hyenas is digging into its prey? One of them stands up with a camera and takes a picture of the others. A second looks up at her and says "Doris, every time we get together you've got to drag out that thing!" That cartoon? Well, that's my family at every birthday and holiday. I expected it this year, since my oldest nephew is in town from California. And of course we had to get the photo of all four of my nephews with Mom. Very funny -- they're all over 6 ft. tall; she's 5' 2" and shrinking by the minute (for a general idea of the proportion, see the mom & baby giraffe at left.) Collapsed onto the bed at 9:00 and didn't stir until 7 the next morning.
Boxing Day. Spectacular weather. 68 degrees, sunny, blue skies that make you happy to be alive. So of course, I went to the zoo. Sure, it's exciting to be 12 inches and a pane of glass away from a jaguar or staring down lions and tigers and bears. But the coolest thing about the zoo? MOLD-A-RAMA! Little souvenirs molded in hot plastic as you watch. The warmth as they come out of the machine, the waxy aroma, ahhhh...cheap thrills at their most wholesome. Actually the wax animals look a little more animated than the live ones. It was a beautiful day to bask in the sun, and the animals took full advantage of it. I could swear I even saw a few of them smiling... and I think the lioness was about to call for a cabana boy. Overall, I don't who enjoyed the day more... the animals or me.
# posted by Peggy @ 4:31 PM 
