merry christmas!

christmas at mom's house has been very merry indeed. last night, we had the traditional christmas eve raclette (a swiss cheese served melted over new potatoes with salad, french bread, and cornichons), one of my favorite artery-clogging dishes of all time. just wash it all down with a little red wine (which we didn't because dad doesn't drink and neither does grandma and we're just not a drinking kind of family) and all's well.

this morning found us in the usual fiesta of gifts. i made off with a new fancy (but still metal) music stand, a new phone, a sleeping bag, a new bathrobe, leather gloves, a scarf crocheted by my sister, sparkley red earrings, the seamus heaney bilingual translation of beowulf, the fitzgerald translation of the odyssey, new socks (thorlos!), and plenty of godiva. i'm sure there's more, but i'm not remembering it off the top of my head.

we've whiled away the afternoon taking turns at the puzzle that my sister gave mom. it's a hitchcock puzzle that's also a mystery, complete with three suspects who all have motive and opportunity. clues to solving the mystery are in the completed puzzle, which is made more difficult to complete because there's no picture of the finished product. and it's all in black and white. anyway, it's a good christmas afternoon activity: involves the family, doesn't involve the t.v., engages the attention, can be breaked from for indefinite periods, allows snacking and conversation. all good.

in one of those puzzle breaks, i decided to check my email and discovered a note from nabih, my quartet's first violinist, that says that i'm not going to be able to be in the quartet any more because the cellist whose place i was taking (because he was studying abroad in korea) is back and wants back in the quartet. i was aware this might happen, but i'm bummed. i had really gotten to enjoy the quartet (see this entry for good quartet memories). too bad we got 250 business cards printed up with "the scordatura quartet" and our names. not so much useful anymore. i'm mostly bummed about not being able to play the other movements to the smetana that we were working on. i suppose that the returning cellist will get to do them. urg.

nabih's invited me to become a member of another quartet (or perhaps quintet--with piano) that he's forming. but i'm not a huge fan of piano music, to be honest. i'd rather play in a group that doesn't involve a piano. nothing against pianos, it's just not my cup of tea, you know? maybe i'll get anna (from the shakespeare company) to do a cello/soprano duet (are there such things?) with me instead. that would no doubt be great fun.