Yay Christmas! So my Christmas adventures were supposed to start Friday night, I was double booked with the housing dept. holiday party and going on a trip to the stellar axis art installation (an art installation out near the Pegasus runway that consists mostly of different sized blue balls). Unfortunately, when I got home I just couldn't move off the couch; with a two day weekend coming up I had a lot of preparation to do (especially at the Heavy shop) and was just plain wiped out. I knew the next day, being a short one due to an early town meeting, would be condensed and hectic and I needed my rest so I missed out on both of my plans. Luckily Saturday turned out to be great, the Heavy Shop was buzzing with preparation for the town party (hence all my preparation the day before) and everyone was in a good mood with Christmas carols playing in the shop and snow blowing around outside (though none of it stuck) and with the short work day I had all afternoon to do laundry and rest up for the big party in the evening. The town holiday party was absolutely amazing, it was the best party I have been to all year (and how could it not be, it was at the Heavy Shop). There was a tap dancing performance, a choir, good food, and big decorations created by different departments from all over McMurdo, including a giant Mactown Candyland board created by some of the other janitors. My favorite part fo the decor was a photo slide show. All week they had a folder on the I drive (the communal drive on the computer network here) for people to put pictures into; it could be anything that reminded you of Christmas. The pictures were projected onto a big screen and rotated throughout the night, it was nice to see what people had chosen. Whenever I got tired of the craziness of the main party there was a mini party going on in the rebuild room, it was nice to be able to hang out with my Heavy Shop people and get a chance to chat beyond the usual 3:00 break I take with them everyday. The only down side was that I was having so much fun I stayed out til 2am (waaaaay past my usual bed time) when I had to get up at 5:30 to start the Sunday run (for explanation see my Thanksgiving entry), but I powered through and thanks to some careful planning it didn't take me and Ana Bell all that long (like I said, we are a dynamic duo). With the rest of my Christmas Eve I took naps, drank tea and ate turkish delights (thanks family!) and then went to the big dinner where I broke my no-seafood-in-McMurdo rule (you never know how long it's been here, a lot of our food is less than fresh) for some lobster tail...MMMMmmm. Oh and I g
ot some fairly exciting Christmas presents, Katie gave me and the other janitors in our crew little kid toothbrushes to clean with (mine's a hotwheels one), Adam gave me chocolate, and Ana Bell gave me a CD (thank god for new music) and a glow bracelet (like a glowstick) which I wore to the holiday party, and best of all I got a card (and a bit of a bonus) from all my 208 residents which I now have on the bulletin board in my janitor's closet. I felt a little odd not giving out gifts this year but I just really didn't get into the holiday spirit until right before Christmas and I really didn't want to force the old holiday cheer. I also had a couple of Christmas miracles: 1) I had ripped my non-work pair of jeans last week so that now they have a big hole in the knee, they are still wearable but I was kind of sad that they looked a little ragged now because I wanted to dress up for Christmas dinner. Then, the day before Christams Eve, what did I find in the skua bin at 208 but jeans! Not just 1, but 2 pair! Both fit me perfectly! I don't think I could have found jeans that suited me better if I'd been able to go out and buy them. 2) I was sad that I wasn't going to get to watch Holiday Inn this year, I had checked at the store to see if they had it and AFRTS (the air force movie channels) definitely didn't have it and Christmas just didn't feel the same without it. Then on Christmas Eve I was walking past the lounge when I heard the unmistakable sound of Fred Astaire singing "You're Easy to Dance With". There was a large group of people gathered around watching it and smelling some pine boughs someone had sent down in a plastic bag...which yes, that last part sounds weird and I am pretty sure it might violate the antarctic treaty but man it was nice to get a little smell of Christmas, I had forgotten what it was even like. I ended my night with a pub crawl orchestrated by the DAs...considering the late hour of my bed time the night before, it may not have been the best choice but it was a great time and I was pretty amazed that I hadn't felt terribley home sick over the past couple of days, until....cut to Christmas afternoon, more than a bit hungover, and watching Nightmare Before Christmas. The second Jack started singing "What's This?" I felt pretty sad I wasn't at home with my family, unwrapping presents, drinking cocoa, and watching Bink bat at the Christmas tree. Don't get me wrong, it's been a great couple of days but there is no substitute for home at Christmas.
ot some fairly exciting Christmas presents, Katie gave me and the other janitors in our crew little kid toothbrushes to clean with (mine's a hotwheels one), Adam gave me chocolate, and Ana Bell gave me a CD (thank god for new music) and a glow bracelet (like a glowstick) which I wore to the holiday party, and best of all I got a card (and a bit of a bonus) from all my 208 residents which I now have on the bulletin board in my janitor's closet. I felt a little odd not giving out gifts this year but I just really didn't get into the holiday spirit until right before Christmas and I really didn't want to force the old holiday cheer. I also had a couple of Christmas miracles: 1) I had ripped my non-work pair of jeans last week so that now they have a big hole in the knee, they are still wearable but I was kind of sad that they looked a little ragged now because I wanted to dress up for Christmas dinner. Then, the day before Christams Eve, what did I find in the skua bin at 208 but jeans! Not just 1, but 2 pair! Both fit me perfectly! I don't think I could have found jeans that suited me better if I'd been able to go out and buy them. 2) I was sad that I wasn't going to get to watch Holiday Inn this year, I had checked at the store to see if they had it and AFRTS (the air force movie channels) definitely didn't have it and Christmas just didn't feel the same without it. Then on Christmas Eve I was walking past the lounge when I heard the unmistakable sound of Fred Astaire singing "You're Easy to Dance With". There was a large group of people gathered around watching it and smelling some pine boughs someone had sent down in a plastic bag...which yes, that last part sounds weird and I am pretty sure it might violate the antarctic treaty but man it was nice to get a little smell of Christmas, I had forgotten what it was even like. I ended my night with a pub crawl orchestrated by the DAs...considering the late hour of my bed time the night before, it may not have been the best choice but it was a great time and I was pretty amazed that I hadn't felt terribley home sick over the past couple of days, until....cut to Christmas afternoon, more than a bit hungover, and watching Nightmare Before Christmas. The second Jack started singing "What's This?" I felt pretty sad I wasn't at home with my family, unwrapping presents, drinking cocoa, and watching Bink bat at the Christmas tree. Don't get me wrong, it's been a great couple of days but there is no substitute for home at Christmas.
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