Christmas 20 Questions

Christmas 20+ Questions...
Wow!  I’ve been tagged!  Got this from Heather Ales’ blog and I’m going to give it a go:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Totally about the hot chocolate, especially if flavored with mint or raspberry, or refer to question #20….


2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa usually has gift wrapping professionally done.  I think I’ve heard some muttering about “maintaining an aesthetic standard”?


3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White twinkle lights on the tree & garland.  One red & one green spotlight for the front of the house.


4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope, the cats would probably try to eat it, and they’re doing a fairly good job of barfing fake tree right now as is…. <sigh>


5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually start on Thanksgiving or the weekend after.  This year, ended up being one of my rare days off.


6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I have to pick just one?


7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? 8 years old, Heidelberg Germany,  Scrawniest live tree that made Charlie Brown’s look “full-bodied” looked magically beautiful with multi-colored lights at night


8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Some time between 8-9 years old.  Some how Santa & the Easter Bunny got mixed up on their wrapping paper usage that year & that tipped me off.


9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Sometimes.  Depends on if we’re going to be traveling, if I’m on call, etc.  But usually opening is strictly the 25th


10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Grandma Katie’s Fruitcake cookies made with rum!


11. Snow love it or dread it? Deathly allergic.  Makes me whine.


12. Can you ice skate? Not at Olympic levels, but I can do the basics without embarrassing myself.


13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I was (and still am) really digging the scrap rack that Michael got me last year


14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family time, the music, church, the food


15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Did I mention the fruitcake cookies?


16. What's your favorite Christmas tradition? Decorating, baking, wrapping up gifts & designing scavenger hunts to find them….


17. What tops your tree? A German glass tree-topper that my Mom bought while we were in Germany, that she gave to me last year.


18. Which do you prefer? Giving or receiving? I love the whole process of giving the gifts, finding the “right” one, wrapping, watching it opened.


19. What is your favorite Christmas carol? Holy Night, Ave Maria, and Oh Tannenbaum.  They were even included in our wedding.


20. What's the best thing to do with candy canes? They make great swizzle sticks for hot chocolate, see question #1


21. How many of your Christmas gifts are you hand making? I had aspirations, but about the time we got the call for the first Russian trip, I knew that wasn’t happening.  I didn’t even send Christmas cards this year.


22. How many different kinds of holiday treats are you making? What are they? Did I mention Grandma Katie’s Fruitcake cookies?


23. How many stockings are hung? I actually don’t have any up this year.  Just didn’t get around to it on that one day of decorating, and I’m OK with that.


24. Wreath on your front door? Yeah, that didn’t happen either.


25. Christmas shopping done? The majority is done.  Got a big item to pick up Thursday morning, which is why I really need to go to bed.  And then I have a few small things to get.  Hopefully that can get done Thursday too.

OK, so now I need some family & friends with blogs so that I could tag someone else. But I’m such the trendsetter, ya know!

There's a great deal of excitement around the house tonight!

Because of a couple of recent developments on the adoption front.

I start to get giddy just thinking about them!

For starters....
The first family from this year's Bright Futures Camp is going to experience a very, very white Christmas this year, because they're already in Russia and their court date to finalize their adoption is scheduled for Thursday, 12/22/2005! Yippee!!

Most of us weren't expecting anyone to go on the second trip until after mid-January, so this is a tremendously happy surprise. Michael & I and the other families are waiting to hear how the process goes for "The First Family" because that may be an indicator for how smoothly, or not, the rest will go for us. The judge has the option to waive, or not, a mandatory 10 day waiting period to finalize the adoption. Then the local Russian passport office has the option, or not, to waive their 10 day waiting period to issue a new Russian passport with the child's American name. So the second trip is a total crapshoot as to whether it will be as short as 7-8 days, or as long as 21-30 days. (Can you even see me trying to pack for a 21 day trip in 15-20 degree weather -- very ugly just thinking about it!)

So Michael & I are thinking of this family, who's little boy happens to be one of Tabitha's buddies, and wishing them every bit of luck right now.

Second! Eeeeeep! Too exciting!
Long story very short.... We think that there may have been some "behind the scenes" negotiations, and if all goes well, we're hoping to talk with Tabitha by phone tomorrow just for a short 5 minutes or so. I asked Michael what he was going to say & his response was "I'll probably just be listening because what makes you think I'll get in a word. She'll just be chattering non-stop." Which is probably exactly what will happen. Keep your fingers crossed because the phone call itself has some interesting logistics.

A-Z's of Me

I found this today on Heather Ales blog, and thought it would be fun to do too and take Heather up on her invitation to “other blog readers”. I’m afraid I don’t have anyone to “Tag” since I’m the first one in my circle of family & friends to start a blog, so this is just a glimpse at “me”.

A-Z's of Me
A - Age: 35
B - Bed size: King
C - Chore you hate: right now, all of them
D - Dessert you love: chocolate & cookies, together or separate
E - Essential start your day item: a cold Coca-Cola
F - Favorite actor(s): Pierce Brosnan
G - Gold or Silver: Gold
H - Height: 5'10”
I - Instruments you play: Used to play flute in middle school & high school, rather badly I might add.
Always wanted to learn piano.
J - Job title: Newborn Nursery Hospitalist i.e. General pediatrician seeing only babies and only
for their nursery stay.
K - Kids: 0 of two-legged kind, currently in the process of acquiring one; 6 of the four-legged cat
kind
L - Living arrangements: Michael & I, Tessa, Molly, Pixel, Tucker, Merlot & Brie (the “Furry Kids”)
and soon to add Tabitha
M - Mom's name: Sharon Ann
N - Nicknames: Therese, Red, Dr. Erwin (Wait, that’s just an alternate reality, especially this
weekend on call !)
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Yes (especially if residency call is counted...), and plenty of day surgery types too
P - Phobia: being sued for malpractice, not having enough home & family time, recently
discovered fear of driving on ice, most forms of bugs
Q - Quote you like: “Never, Never, Never Quit” – Winston Churchill
R - Right or left handed: right
S - Siblings: One younger brother – Yo! Too Tall!!
T - Time you woke up today: 9:15am (late day at the hospital today)
U - Unique habit: I grind my teeth badly enough to need bite guards at night
V - Vegetable you hate: anything that I can’t identify, but especially mushrooms
W - Worst habit: Not saying “no” often enough and having a poor sense of time management
X - X-rays you've had: teeth, back, neck, feet, ankle, hip joints, sinuses, chest, jaw joints
Y - Yummy food you can make: Lime Cilantro Beef Fajitas
Z - Zodiac Sign: Fairly Classic Gemini, but I prefer to approach life interpreted in the Chinese
Zodiac where I’m a Metal Dog

Nine years 12 hours ago....

I married the guy who has become my best friend, my rock, mia amour....

In the time since then, he has been with me though everything. (Oftentimes with home-made Chocolate Chip Cookies a la Michael....)

Applying to medical school, the MCAT, six interviews, two acceptances & four rejections, graduations from college x two, nearly 15,000 test questions in four years, all three parts of the state board exam, “The Match” twice, three tries at landing an internship, five pediatric residency interviews, three extraordinary grueling years of residency, applying for a medical license & the jurisprudence exam, the pediatric boards x three (It’s a really, really hard test!), a lost fellowship slot and finally gainful employment 2 ½ years ago.

That’s a list that might have scared off the faint of heart, isn’t it?

But wait, there’s more.

We’ve moved a total of seven times, lived in two apartments, been caretakers of a house, rented two houses, and finally bought our first home nearly a year ago.

This dedicated man has followed me to the far south of Texas and back because of my training, without a complaint, and even turned a less than stellar job market in Corpus Christi into an opportunity to direct his career in a different direction and switch companies.

We’ve shared our lives with a total of ten cats; eight of them from kitten-hood. We’ve lost four of them in the past 2 ½ years; three of them tragically too young and the fourth, tragically too old.

Between the two of us we’ve had eight different cars:

1. Spectrum – “Berry”


2. Old Toyota MR2 – “Beastie”


3. Mazda 626 – “Baby”


4. Toyota Echo – “Bubble car”


5. Jeep Grand Cherokee #1 – “Jeepie”


6. Toyota Celica – “Beastie #2”


7. Jeep Grand Cherokee #2 – “Jeepie #2”


8. New Toyota MR2 Spider – “Beepie”

We’ve lost two of my grandparents and two of his, and this year the mother of one of his longstanding friends.

He’s been with me though two surgeries for endometriosis, and in all honesty, I’m not the best of patients. (Surprise!) I’ve seen him through the flu, at least a few times since he doesn’t believe in the flu shot. (I still think that’s crazy!) And there have been other speed bumps along the way.

We’ve traveled all over: Las Vegas x three, Hoover Dam, Monterey California, Hearst Castle, Hawaii & the Volcano National Park, Western Massachusetts, Colorado, New York City, Puerto Rico, the Western Caribbean and of course most recently to RUSSIA. And best of all, there’s still plenty of places we want to go see together.

He brought with him a group of guys who’ve all known one another for 30 years called affectionately “Da’ Boys” and I have made a few close friends that have been pretty tight for the past 10 years. (You know who you are: Matt, Jeff, Billy, Tony, Tiff, MJ & Tarl!)

I’ve encouraged him on the purchase of far too many computer components to count, and he hasn’t ever tried to tally up my enormous stock of scrapbooking “stuff”. And we’ve egged each other on in the pursuit of better & better cameras and photographs.

I’d say this qualifies as having established a history together.

So all day long, I’ve thought about how to say “Thank you” & “I love you” to this guy, so here goes....

I know I don’t say “Thank you” often enough and probably don’t tell you that I love you enough either. So I hope you know that you are the rock in my life that keeps me grounded, centered and supported now and especially at those times that I have crumbled.

You constantly amaze me with your dedication & devotion. No one else has, at the drop of a hat, brought me food to the hospital because I could not stand the thought of my fourth successive meal of hospital food while on-call for a 36-40 hour shift; even as late as 11 pm. I watched friends & colleagues lose their marriages over the long hours & time away from home that this life & career I’ve chosen demands. But you’ve been steadfastly by my side. We decided early on we were a team and that together we were better than apart, even if together sometimes meant not being in the same city. And while I know we’ve both been lonely, I never heard you complain about my not being home. You’ve handled my stress and anger and drama when many other people would have just walked out. And you’ve usually known that it was the fatigue & burn-out talking. And you’ve always encouraged me to take time for myself, even at the expense of “us” time.

I’m so grateful for all the “little” things that you do that I don’t always mention; programming the thermostats so that I never wake-up in a cold house, feeding the cats breakfast so that I can sleep, holding my pager so I can take a shower without obsessing that I’m missing a page, keeping the fridge stocked with Cokes & yogurt. And so many, many more ways that you take care of me and our family.

And then there is just you! I love to hear you laugh when we get started on a round of puns and “groaners”. I love the dimples you have when you grin, and I even think your “Kermit smile” is cute. I love watching you in an animated conversation when you’re talking about those things that you love, you coffee-geek you! I love that you can nearly read my mind, that we can finish one another’s sentences, and that we’re content to just be together. It makes my heart melt when you talk about Tabitha as “your girl” and I love(d) watching you interact with her, the cats or your family.

There’s more I could write about, but you’ve been there with me, and you know.

So know this Sweetheart, that knowing you for the past twelve years and being married to you for the past nine, has made me a better person and that I can’t imagine this time spent with anyone else. Everyday, I ask how I got so lucky to have you in my life....

Cheers! And hopefully many many more years together!

All my love,
T.

Christmas 2005

Here's the link in case you missed it:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5028755

The more I read about the poverty the boy & his family had to live in, the more I thought of Masha. His appreciation of his orange reminded me so much of her and the other kids there at the orphanage.

I imagine that until her mother died, Christmas for her was a fairly regular Russian style event. Not so commercial as in the US; more about family & food & faith and less about things & gifts. This year will be her second Christmas in the orphanage and I have to think that there really isn't much in the way of celebration that will happen there. They really don't have the resources to do much more than probably a good meal and gather themselves together. And then I contrast that image with what the rest of her Christmases will be like in the future. And I feverently hope that we will be able to still keep the focus on the meaning of the holiday, the importance of family & tradition, and not so much on the "stuff". (Grandparents -- Be warned!)

It makes me very sad to know that she'll be on the other side of the world this year at the holidays, but I know that once she's home, she also won't be lacking for anything. And in a way, it is sad that she won't be here, but I also realize that the holidays are a stressful, overwhelming time for many people, including me. And perhaps in a way, it's better that she come home, after the craziness is done, and she has 8-10 months or so to learn some English before she has to handle her first American Christmas.

Michael & I have seen some ugly abject poverty this year in our travels, and I run into it on a daily basis with the families I encounter through my work, (In the year 2005, how is it that so many people in Fort Worth live without a phone or regular electricity, and how is it that they manage to take home a 5 pound preemie and care for the baby?) and so right now, today, I'm feeling very grateful for all that I have, all the family whom I have, and how well in the balance of things, life has treated me to this point.

Just some random thoughts....

Today has been a good day. Not a really, really good day. Not even a great day. Just a solid good day.

• I spent the day at work with my favorite partner. We saw a bunch of babies, managed to catch up on our crazy goings-on, ate lunch in peace (no pages), and still managed to have fun doing it all and left a semi-reasonable times.
• I ate a fantastic dinner with my "Dinner Bunch Ladies" and even though I'm easily the baby of the group, I had the best time seeing all of them, talking and connecting with a group of women who are so supportive and welcoming.
• I have a husband that is the best guy on the planet, who even though he hardly sees me, doesn't begrudge my time with "the ladies" (see above). And picked up all the dry-cleaning, brought it home and put away every bit of it, including my stuff! Every day I ask myself, what did I do to be lucky enough to have Michael is my life?
• And even though it's after 10pm, I really am too tired to tackle work paperwork and not make more mistakes typing than the effort is worth, I still took the 15-20 minutes to visit my favorite scrapbooking blogs and found a positive little gem on Ali Edwards' blog. http://aliedwards.typepad.com/ It's a Texas Christmas tale on NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5028755 I didn't feel in the mood to listen, so I scrolled down to read the transcript. Safe to say, there's a few poignant themes that help clarify what Christmas is supposed to be all about. It really is worth the 5 minutes read. Some more thoughts on that in the next post....

"Good night to all, and to all a Good Night...."

Just in case anyone is wondering if I'm still alive....

Survey says “Yes!” Although I'm so buried in paperwork right now, that "alive" is a questionable term.

This would be the current state of my desk at home. The top papers are my stack of discharge summaries waiting to be typed up & billed for, clustered into groups of 20 per clip. The bottom stack is the 35 discharges that I finished the billing for at 1am today. Yeah ME!

I feel like I'm never going to get caught up. Of course spending the night at the hospital Wednesday 12/7/05 because it was too icy & slick to drive home at 10 pm, didn't help. At this point it's looking like X-mas day itself is going to be spent doing some serious typing....



On a lighter note, these guys are helping me stay sane. Brie is on my right & Merlot is on my left.

And this would be Merlot's contribution to holiday decorating around here. We like to call this look "Busted!"












Every once in a while I capture a photograph that just takes my breath away. Here's the one that I got most recently of Pixel with her buddy Tucker. Who says that animals don't have emotions?









And lastly, we have a theme for Tabitha's room!
Since she's become quite the little cat person, we're going to decorate with what I like to refer to as "Sophisticated Parisian Kitty", taken from this pillow of inspiration....

And on that note, I really need to get some sleep so that I can face "later today".