Saturday, December 28, 2002

Its the Saturday after Xmas, Dec. 28. Only three days left in the old year!
We had a quiet but beautiful Christmas. We went to my parent's for Xmas eve as usual, but it felt quiet with only my parents & my brother. We certainly missed having the rest of the clan, but I'm sure Juani & Fern are having a blast in their Italy trip. And Ali & Co. are in no shape to travel this year, hopefully next year will be different. Then we wen tot my inlaws for our usual Xmas morning gift extravaganza, back to mom's for some more presents and back to the inlaws for dinner. This year my inlaws invited my family to come - I was very flattered and happy to get some of my favorite people in the same room. There were some jittery nerves given that both families are so different, but a great time was had by all.
The only sad part is that the rest of Frank's family couldn't come because of the snow. And my poor brother Jorge had to work supervising the snow cleanup so he missed a great dinner. But we've got the in-law make up xmas party tomorrow Sunday, should be nice to see everyone!

Food was great as always - my mo cooks great Cuban food and my mother inlaw is also a fantastic cook. I thought I'd gained weight, until I weighed myself Friday morning - hey, I'll take a couple of lbs off as a belated xmas gift!!!
Got to play at church again this year - to a packed audience as usual. I was a bit nervous because I was still recovering from the flu but everything came out great. Even my usual bloopers were relatively minor.
Last couple of days we've spent shopping - not buying all that much but exchanging some things from Xmas. We loved everything we got but some things were the wrong size, etc.
Now we're off to Stacy's graduation party - yoohoo!! Should be fun going to her Uncle Nick's farm with the whole crew, like she's always wanted to do .
Here's to a fun day today!

Sunday, December 22, 2002

Just a random political rambling... I really wish some people would do more action and less complaining. It bugs me to no end when I see people who pretend they care and talk a good talk, but when push comes to shove they let others do the work and then they criticize them to boot. And then people who don't know better (because they dont' know the whole story) think they're really caring just based on what they say. Hrumph! If they really cared they'd show it with actions, not words!! ARGH!

Yeah, it makes me mad.
Last night Frank and I went to see the 23rd Paul Winter's Solsctice concert in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It was a WONDERFUL concert, one of the best in years! It had an African theme, with mostly African or African American performers, and they were a lot of fun to listen to and watch. This was only the 3rd time that the moment of solstice happened right during the concert. So they did their "longest night of the year" suite (with the gong!) pretty early into the show in order to have it coincide with the moment of solstice. Pretty cool!

Frank and I both have the flu. Yuck. We pushed ourselves to go to the concert (since we had the tx) but we're paying for it this morning, both feeling stuffy, draggy and generally crappy. So no church this morning (sorry guys!). I hate not being there because they depend on me for music, but I figure I need to get better for Xmas eve mass, which is only two days away. I may just make some chicken soup for dinner tonight ;)