Subject: Weekend Update: December 20-31, 2002
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 13:30:56 -0500

Friday, December 20, 2002

Cadence decided to reduce its liabilities by requiring its
employees to take vacation time during the Christmas week.
I was only to happy to oblige since it was in my plans anyway.
I spent most of Friday setting up for my return in the
New Year, setting the next year's strategy, cleaning my
office, and making notes to myself.  Some began to empty out
of the building by noon.  By 2PM I wasn't going to be the
Scroogiest of bosses, so I wished each of my writers a
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and sent them home to
their families.  I was right behind them and home before it
got dark for once.

Miranda hosted the Young Adult Christmas party in the barn.
Joy and I called Rich; his family went up north, leaving
Rich behind for the evening, so we invited him over.  We
found a cozy spot at the other end of the house, since none
of us is considered young anymore.  Some barely consider us
adults!  We just talked until Rich returned to his house. We
went to bed at 10:00 because we could.  The party finally gave
out about 1:30AM (so I am told). 

Saturday, December 21, 2002

Meanwhile, Andrew spent Friday night at a teen overnight at
the church.  We had to pick him up at noon the next day, dropping
Emily off in exchange; she was going to see Lord of the Rings,
the Two Towers with the Andrew family.  Traffic towards the Mall
was thick and difficult and we were glad that our shopping was
done as we turned westward. Much of Saturday was spent preparing
for the Open House Christmas party planned for that evening.
We rearranged some furniture, borrowed a coffee urn from the
church, and adjusted the lighting on Mandy's murals in the barn.
At 6PM, Judy and Heather Mattoon were our first guests.  Diane
Adams was our last guest after 10PM.  Including the six Metcalfes,
107 people celebrated Christmas at the Manor.  Thanks to Don Jeffrey,
Jr. for the count; I had no time to count, or even to visit much,
but that was not our function.  Our function was to bring friends
together for a celebration and by all accounts we fulfilled our
purpose.

Sunday, December 22, 2002

Unbelievably, we had dessert and a lasagna left over, which
we enjoyed for dinner on Sunday. The choir sang its Christmas
presentation in the morning service, and the jazz band presented
in the evening service.  I relaxed the afternoon away as Joy's
pillow.  After the evening service, the church continued with
desserts in the fellowship hall, and even then we weren't
done because Joy and I came in a separate car, so we headed
over to the Pape's house to watch some of the Patriot's football
game (while some of Miranda's friends came to our house for
the same reason).

Monday, December 23, 2002

On Monday morning, Joy took me to see a matinee of the Lord of
the Rings, as a late birthday present.  Already a favorite movie,
the sequel did not disappoint.  Traffic was even worse near the
mall but we had to brave it after the movie to get some groceries
for Christmas dinner on Wednesday.

The Magnusons came over for a cookout that evening.  I told her
to spend a little money and buy a nice thick steak.  I prepared
it and served up a delectable meal.  The Bickoms joined us after
dinner.  They were dropping off their cat, Muffin. Joy agreed to
cat-sit while they spent the holidays with David's family.  Muffin
and Belle haven't really hit it off, and Muffin has a curious streak
that keeps our eyes on her and things that she is wont to knock over.
When we are not around, Muffin can roam Andrew's room on the third
floor.  Her food and litter box are up there, too.

Tuesday, December 24, 2002

Andrew's orthodontists treated their patients to a movie on
Christmas Eve morning.  Our entire family, plus Melissa Christmas,
enjoyed the Santa Clause 2.

Try as I might, I couldn't convince anyone that it was a waste
of energy and good wrapping paper to wrap up our gifts on Tuesday
afternoon, when the energy would be reversed in a matter of hours.
We all went to the places where we had hidden our gifts and dressed
them up nicely.

Later, we dressed ourselves nicely for the annual Christmas Eve
service, a long-standing and dearly held tradition in our church.
Every year, the sanctuary is packed with regulars and their visiting
families, locals, and people who are infrequent or former attenders.

On the way home we teased mom about opening presents early.
This year, Joy has been saying "sure", much to the dismay of
the children who play this game every year. Tradition holds
that mom must be strong and resist all attempts to open any
gift before its rightful time.  The fun is in the tension,
but the roles were reversed; the kids would reply alarmed, "No!
We can't open presents until Christmas!"  Talk turned to
gifts and I commented that when Andrew was young, he always
gave me a gift that I appreciated and could really use: two
bottles of Coca-cola.  We laughed all the way home, over the
river and through the woods.

Wednesday, Christmas Day

Tradition is strong with our family and Christmas morning was
no exception as we took our time arising at our own pace.  The
familiar Pop Tarts were laid out for breakfast.  (I still find
that tradition a little strange.)  Andrew was first up and about;
Emily was last up waiting for someone to come get her (almost 11AM).
The rest of us were nestled on the couch watching the quintessential
Christmas Carol, featuring Alistaire Sim.  After "God had blessed us,
everyone," we passed out our gifts to each other.  Andrew gave me a
couple of bottles of Coke.  Then Emily also gave me a couple of
bottles of Coke.  When I got the next pair of bottles, I figured
that everyone had each gotten me a couple of bottles, and they
all laughed and laughed.  It wasn't until all the presents were
doled out that they went to their secreted places to retrieve the
real gifts they had for me.

The weather forecasters predicted a foot of snow on Christmas day
in our area; a record for Christmas Day in New England in at least
the last 100 years.  The snow forecast kept my parents and brothers
from coming to Pepperell so we postponed our Christmas dinner until
Saturday. Before the postponement, Steve was claiming the big bed
in the guest room.  Cape Cod got zero snow, but my family would have
gotten snowed in had they come to Pepperell because the forecasters
were right and by 4 PM it was coming down heavily.  We ended up with
about 14 inches on the ground.  My cousin Kevin came to New England
with his children last year hoping to see snow.  They missed their BIG
chance!! but we hope they'll get more chances in the future.

Thursday, December 26, 2002

It was a good thing I went out on Christmas night to blow the
first six inches or so of the snow off the walk and out of the
driveway, because the little snow thrower I have wouldn't have
handled 14 inches at once.  Every Metcalfe pitched in with the
snow removal effort in the morning, cleaning off four cars, and
opening a hole to the street.  With everyone involved, we did in
just about an hour.  The kids then frolicked, romped, and wrestled
in the snow.

Emily's retest for her driver's license was that day, but the
roads had cleared out well enough that we headed to Leominster
at around 2PM for her 3PM appointment.  Having been there in the
last month, Emily assured me that she knew the way and so we
headed west.  In Fitchburg, Emily was having trouble recalling
the way.  (We passed the church where Don and Fe got married.)
Time was running out and I thought that she would miss her
appointment so we backtracked and took the first route to
Leominster that we saw.  At 2:52, we finally stopped at a used car
dealership, figuring that the would certainly know how to get
to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.  The dealer informed me that
we were barely 1000 feet from the intersection that led us to
the RMV.  Luckily we made it on time, although we were sixth
in line out of six to be tested.  When the time came, the officer
quizzed Emily on her previous test, and told her to take a left
out of the parking lot, around a private rotary, and a right back
into the parking lot.  She passed.  The odd part about her passing
was that she was not allowed to drive home.  As a permit holder,
she was covered on our insurance.  As a license holder, we have
to insure her, which will come soon; too soon.

Friday, December 27, 2002

Joy and Jessica took Miranda to the hospital on Friday for a
scheduled lumpectomy.  Andrew and I went to the store to pick
up some DVD-R discs for the present that Joy got me but forgot
to include with her gift.  He and I enjoyed a Coke Slurpee on
the way home, sharing my gloves to hold the frozen sugary drink.
Emily stayed behind cleaning up for the Teen Christmas party
scheduled for that evening.  The have a Yankee Swap with gag
gifts but I am not too sure that anyone really likes to get
stuck with the gag.  For example, Allie Clark got a sink plunger,
and Josh Drew got a package of facial tissue.  I think that where
teens are involved I like summer pool parties better than winter
ones.   The party went well, but the energy gets couped up into
a smaller space in the winter. Jeff Lane and David Scalera stuck
around after the kids had taken their leave.

Saturday, December 28, 2002

On Saturday, we finished picking up from the previous night's party
and readied the place for my extended family.  I went to the church
with Andrew to borrow a couple of 8-foot tables, hoping that there
would be someone there to grant me permission, since I had neglected
to make those arrangements ahead of time.  There was, and I came home
with the necessary table space to seat 17 people. 

We decided on turkey for dinner, even though Thanksgiving leftovers
might still be in some people's refrigerators, because we missed
the leftovers by going to Steve's house for Thanksgiving.  We felt
that turkey leftovers were better than ham leftovers.  (Ham for Easter!)

Mom and Dad; John, Veronika, Danielle, Joe; Steve, Sharon, Ben, Jake,
and Jim; and my six enjoyed family conversation, video and pinball =
games,
a 22-pound bird, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, keilbasa (a =
Crawford
thing) and various vegetable dishes.  They teased us at dinner that they
had to be done soon and out of the house so that we could get ready for
a second seating.  But this was our last big event of the year and it
was time to relax.

Sunday, December 29, 2002

On Sunday afternoon, we made turkey sandwiches and sat down for
afternoon football.  The New England Patriots fell behind and
our hopes flagged for a playoff berth.  Then they came back and
won the game in overtime, exciting no one more than Andrew.  Only,
his relief and joy were dashed a few hours later when the Jets
won their game, eliminating our team.

My Dad began an interim stint in the Duxbury, MA Church of the
Nazarene.  That's real close to two of my brothers, Steve and
Russell, and I hope they can take advantage of the opportunity.

Monday, December 30, 2002

Monday was my mother's 70th birthday. We did make her a cake and
sang to her on Saturday but I also called her up again on Monday
to ensure that she was greeted on her day.  My kids like to sing
Happy Birthday by taking a syllable at a time, so my mom got to
enjoy "Hap" "Pee" "Birth" "day" "to" "You" in a unique way.  Mom
commented that she has lived longer than any of her antecedants,
a statistic that we are all very grateful for!

The six of us took some time to get some shopping done for back
to school and home things that we needed.  We stopped for Slurpees
once again on the way home.  I fiddled the afternoon away on a
universal remote that wouldn't universally control one of my devices.

We left the kids home to fend for themselves that evening.  Joy
and I went to visit with Joyce and Mark Hamlin; a party of four,
and a very relaxed evening.

Tuesday, January 31, 2002

We didn't make any official plans for a party this evening so
we may let 2002 end quietly.  Or, we may find some people who
want to share it with us.  We'll see what opportunity presents
itself.

We hope that 2003 finds you healthy and happy.

Mark