abigail414's diaryland diary
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Recovering Christmas
This was a nice low-key freeform Christmas, and historically I�ve been a bit of a Scrooge. Last Christmas I was in shock from moving out here and having no furniture, much less a tree. Then, for the previous 10 years I was married to a Christmas zealot who accused me of dampening his spirit if I didn�t embrace the annual killing of a tree and filling every empty space of the house with a Santa or Angel. Prior to that I was a pagan who celebrated the Solstice, and viewed Christmas as a co-opted perversion of the 'real' holiday. Christmas this year included getting gifts for about 40 co-workers, a few local people, sending E-cards, Christmas cards (with photos), and some presents for my mother. It was fun, fairly spontaneous and last minute, and all about wanting people to know they were thought of.
Decorating was minimal but included two things I�ve wanted for years � mechanical reindeer and an artificial tree. As a Southern Californian, the whole white Christmas sleigh bell thing never resonated, but fancy lit moving things did. The above pair were a housewarming gift for my new place, but are at present grazing the wall of my condo. The pre-lit artificial tree was on sale for $32 (last minute shopping bonus) � it was familiar from childhood, not many 'choose-n-cut' lots in Los Angeles. To me, real pine trees were for climbing, not slowly dying in the living room. So, maybe part of the reason I've felt left out at Christmas is because my 'traditions' are green and glittery and not white. (Yes, it is more complicated than that, but those reindeer on my wall do make me smile.)
Christmas eve day started peacefully enough with my morning yoga class - but then a long-term diabetic cat in the boarding facility decided to crash, with pulsating pupils, stiff, and low temperature. I was on-call, so came in and got her wrapped up in a heating pad, took blood to check her glucose, but then couldn�t make the damn glucometer work. Such a simple and essential piece of equipment, and because diabetic cats can go into a coma due to low or high sugar (with vastly different treatments) I really needed to know. I was ready to make an intuitive guess, but got a technician to come in and figure out the equipment, and yes her blood sugar was 13 (near death). I got some intravenous dextrose (sugar) solution in her, which is to be slowly given �to effect�, but this cat�s effect was to leap off the table and have convulsions. Luckily, she settled down, as did her pupils and heart rate, and we got a catheter and IV fluids on board � I left her an hour later with a normal body temperature, standing shakily, purring when touched, and eating ravenously. I called her owners to say Kitty had some problems but appeared to be stable, and the husband said that we �always find a problem� when they bring their cat in for boarding. Yes, that's right, we were just looking for something to do on Christmas eve and stumbled upon the bonanza of a comatose cat needing critical emergency care. I pointedly told him that his cat had been near death and we were going to be discontinuing her insulin and taking her blood glucose regularly until she appeared stable. Merry Christmas.
Mom arrived while I was reviving the cat, but later on we managed to get all dressed up and head into downtown for dinner. Our table at Spencer's was so close to neighboring diners that we had no choice but to eavesdrop, and it was a shock to discover it was a set holiday menu at $60 per person (I guess the staff get a premium for working a holiday). We had an overpriced margarita, listened to the bored married couple at the table next door complain about having to go to Vermont, then stumbled out the door to valet parking, stopping at Ralph�s for a pre-cooked chicken, some grape leaves, a wild rice salad, zucchini cakes and headed home for a relaxed and lovely meal in our jammies. We also had a relaxed and lovely breakfast Christmas morning with poached eggs, salmon, and garlic cream cheese on bagels - and later on I made lamb stew for Christmas day dinner. Yes, I cooked twice in one day, which is some kind of record. Christmas day included a visit to my new home that is in terrible disarray due to pending renovations � but it inspired us to watch over 4 hours of HGTV, getting ideas for the color palette. (Unfortunately, the holiday was marred by the continuing discussion of how I ruined my mother's life, but that always happens after being together more than 24 hours.)
So, we have once again marked the turning of the wheel, the birth of the son/return of the sun, the never-dimming lantern, the evergreen, the opportunity to be born anew, the season to give and receive - as well as the resuscitation of a cat and the imperfect bonding of mother and daughter. The days are getting longer - even here in sunny Palm Springs we are leaving the dark and heading back towards the light.
Thanks for checking in. Hope your holiday was memorable.
9:30 p.m. - 2006-12-25
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