i ate the holidays! - part 2

< The teacup chihuahua, Chestnut, at the window waiting for his owner (my niece). I always wonder how such a tiny critter could still be classified as a dog. I've always thought dogs that small should be assigned their own category. Maybe...rodentus intelligentus but poopus all over the place-us?

I've always stated that Christmas is best spent with family, but New Year's with friends. This year was with family and not ultimately by choice, considering my work training schedule. Again I had an amazing time, as families go, and yet I was, inside, longing to be with friends in a good bar drinking and conversing merrily.

It's like Las Vegas for me (though I haven't yet been to that big, tacky, fabulous town), best experienced with friends, not family. Our reunion last year took place there during the severely hot summer and I elected to skip it, in part because I was sick with a stomach infection, and because I suspected it wouldn't be an ideal place for a family reunion. I was right. As it turned out the whole week of the reunion was fragmented at best, with some of the nieces and nephews off on their own exploring the various casinos, clubs, and venues typically explored by those in their late teens or early twenties. Most of the parents, aunts and uncles scuttled about in the rented houses if not gambling out. There were chaotic moments when people flaked out events. The sense of familial togetherness was quite compromised, mostly because the reunion was used as an excuse to go there and gamble. I didn't regret at all not being there.

^ My nephew in the lounge at my sister's work. We were so steeped playing Mirror's Edge on his Xbox 360 that all we could think of while staring out at the city were all the skyscraper rooftops and alleys where a parkour runner could play. Right - self portrait, kinda.

Anyway, at my sister's home in Belvidere (where I stayed the whole time for training work and holidays) we prepared the fare for the evening. My sister had to work in the morning so we killed two birds, her kids and I tagging along and spending the a.m. in the lounge at her offices in downtown Chicago, then to a local and very crowded Trader Joe's to get all the fixings for the intimate family party that evening. The skyscraper views from the lounge further comforted me to feeling so at home in my hometown. I loved it.

At TJ's I picked out a sparkling wine for midnight and we then stopped by Pizzeria Due (an ol' proud Chicago tradition) so I could pick up a frozen deep dish pizza.

My niece had dentist and eye exam appointments which freed me up for a while to walk around the Loop by myself and fall in love with the city, my city always, once again. I had time to stop by my alma mater, The Art Institute Of Chicago, if only to gawp once more at the entrance hall with its grand staircase, and to pick up postcards at the shop (where I used to work) before heading up Michigan Avenue in the frigid but sunny cold to reconnoiter with my sister and the kids.

Back at home a few hours later we got to work on cooking, baking, arranging, generally preparing. My sisters agreed that no serious main course dishes be made but instead to concentrate on light fare, appetizer types, and nibbles.

^ Rub-a-dub, thanks for the grub. That citrus punch my middle sister makes is awesome. Too bad I couldn't spike it with rum. The sparkling wine (damn the French for being snobby idiots and disallowing any grape fizzies from outside the region of Champagne to also called such) was pretty good. I was the only one to actually help myself to a second glass at midnight, if only as a feeble attempt to make up for my not being out at a bar in the city with friends.

The evening turned out very nicely. My brother-in-law insisted we watch the DVD he just bought of that recent techno suspense movie, Eagle Eye. It turned out to be fun if rather implausible at times (felt like an action adventure puzzle type video game). But the transition at midnight got marginalized as we paused the movie for a few minutes, popped open the sparkling wine, toasted, sipped, then resumed the movie. I was hoping for a more dramatic moment - without watching any movie - but it is what it is.

Like I stated, it was a comforting time welcoming the new year with family, but it seems I had yet to be off on my own in the city, and on my own terms. I finally got my chance.