gurdymonkey | Christmas aftermath

I have to admit, in some ways this year's Christmas has felt like a speed bump between me and all that's going down on Twelfth Night. (Party? I can't party yet, I have stuff to do!)

Bought an unholy amount of cheese at Trader Joe's to take to people. Christmas eve was over at Lyman/James/Sylvia's place and I'd agreed with Sylvia that I'd bring some cheese and cheese-delivery-apparatus (crackers and a sourdough baguette from the Feel Good Bakery) for their do. The evening's entertainment included The Princess Bride, the original Disney Alice in Wonderland, and the 1977 Rankin & Bass The Hobbit. Much geekage ensued, particularly as all the boys are techies and gamers.

Got up before God does to drive out to Stockton on Christmas Day with the rest of the cheese, mutant Honeycrisp apples the size of a child's head, some fancy sodas (blood orange and pomegranate being All The Rage right now) and other goodies in a big basket for

mamapduck and her family. When she'd originally invited me I'd assumed we'd spend the day at her place, but when she phoned Saturday night, she told me we were going out to her parents' place in Jackson, so I grabbed a bottle I'd been gifted with to give to them as well.

I have to admit that spending Christmas with other people's families is nice, but kind of weird. Other people's kids rolling around the floors, other people's grandmas to chat with over a cocktail, that sort of thing. I like Susie's family, and they were very welcoming. I did talk to my family by phone twice: once when I called, again when my nephews had opened their game cards and Miriam called back so they could thank me.

Today is more sewing. Watched the 'historical' featurettes for the Shogun DVD and managed not to throw anything at the TV. The talking head, Professor Paul Varley, carefully does not draw attention to Clavell's mistakes, but you can drive a Shinkansen train through the holes in the chronology. Cha no yu was not particularly "ancient" in 1600, it was modish and trendy, particularly as promulgated by Sen Rikyu: all the fashionable daimyo were getting into it. Female geisha and official pleasure quarters did not exist, therefore, Kiku could not, in fact be a geisha. The production does drive the train elegantly around this error by costuming Kiku as an asobime ("play girl") and she's never actually referred to as a geisha in the teleplay, though the use of the Occupied Japan term "mama-san" was rather egregious.

Time for a spot of lunch and back to false kasane layers.....