My husband surprised me with many wonderful gifts this Christmas season. A smooth tan rock inscribed with OM. A jaunty red tea kettle. (I think this was out of self-interest as he was quite concerned that I might eventually start a dry-pan fire). Jewelry that keeps coming at unexpected moments. Nothing expensive (we’re too cheap for that!) but quite lovely in its sparkle and bling appeal. My favorite so far is a seemingly hideous cocktail ring which I adore. 12 onyx and diamond (okay, cubic zirconia) petals poke off of its silver band. At almost an inch and a half across, it’s monstrous and reminds me of some bizarre sea anemone. I love it!
He bought me the entire box set of My So-Called Life DVDs. That’s a show he used to make fun of, probably because I watched it with fervor when I was well past my teens. I’m a sucker for narrated stories, what can I say? Plus, who doesn’t like a little angst in their day? I can walk away saying to myself, Hey, at least I can drive.
Oh, and S actually wore the blazer I bought him. Never-worn, tags attached, grey wool tweed by Claiborne bought in a thrift store for five bucks. Hey, I told you we were cheap. I’ve never seen him wear a blazer in our entire life together. But after initial resistance, he embraced the look, wearing it throughout New Year’s Eve. We had a wonderful celebration by dressing to the nines and then taking our daughters to the theatre, okay, we saw the Tale of Despereaux, then out for expensive Japanese food. (Our daughters are well cultured.) We liked to think that everyone was jealous of how elegant our black velvet dresses looked, and how much fun we seemed to be having. And it WAS fun.
We stopped by the Mission Inn to see the Christmas lights one last time and to spin around the glittering city in a horse-drawn carriage. Back at home, we had cake and champagne or sparkling cider by candlelight and then watched the classic black and white version of Sabrina. You can’t beat Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart for style and romance. We watched the ball drop on Times Square and made way too much noise.
It was a perfect celebration. I’m superstitious about celebrating occasions well, and I’m particularly superstitious about beginning the New Year with freshness and careful intention. For no reason besides intuition, I’ve been really into Thyme lately, and I burned a bundle of it just after midnight, concentrating on the fire’s glow and the smoke rising like prayer.
(All during the holidays, every time someone complained of any physical or emotional ailment I kept offering to boil them up a cup of fresh Thyme tea. “I’m sure it does SOMETHING good,” I’d say. Surprisingly my sister-in-law, my brother, my father, my husband, my daughters – they all turned me down. Oh well.)
(Here’s the story of Thyme. I was lying in bed one night when I suddenly thought, I need to get some Thyme! Like that, just out of nowhere. And the next day, at Farmer’s Market, one of the vendors had bunches of it fresh-cut. I’d never seen it there before so I bought it. The day after that, I found a pot of it on sale at the grocery store. So now I have that. It’s gone into a lot of our food since then. It just smells so… Italian.)
Speaking of Italian, we spent the first days of 2009 on vacation in Little Italy, San Diego. We stayed at this marvelous, underappreciated hotel with marble baths and luxurious rooms for under a hundred bucks. We walked the blocks of the city, inhaling the aromas of espresso and baking bread, and listening to the flow of Italian commonly spoken by the area residents. S delighted me by wearing the blazer throughout the weekend, just like the other spiffy inhabitants. All the ways he showed me and told me he loved me during this last week have been delightful. I’m happy to be loved. I’m happy when my family is together, doing interesting things. I’m happy here, writing. This is who I am. I am Marie, sometimes bitter, sometimes divided, living up to my name. More than anything, I am hopeful, optimistic, faithful and compassionate. I embrace life.
I say thank you for all of the gifts.
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