Aside from the Monday disaster and aside from the never-ending work crisis, things were looking pretty festive.
As I said, I didn’t go to the Knox party on Monday, which I now regret, but Igor and I decorated the tree. There was the Night Ministry Christmas Party on Tuesday (I volunteered there), but as usual – no pics until they post on their website.
At work, we had a bagel sandwich chief’s table (everyone could order their version of bagel sandwich with smoked salmon; this picture is very close to what I ordered).
On Wednesday, we had our building (not our firm) holiday party on the Landing:
After the party, I went to the Fannie May store and purchased chocolate to give to Anna’s family and to Mom (for her, I picked a custom selection with no nuts and no small particles, just cream filling). Also, I walked a little bit along Michigan Avenue and saw some holiday lights.
I also packed two more parcels, and baked holiday biscotti with cherries, almonds and peppermint chips.
Today, we had the Conscious Cup in our cafeteria from 7-30 AM to 10 AM, and we could get any drinks from them (same as bagel sandwiches, it is always free for us). First, I got a cappuccino with peppermint, and later – a latte with vanilla.
After work, I went to get my nails done to be ready for the corporate holiday party on Saturday, and then I did some almost-last-minute shopping in Target (and regretted the time wasted).
I hope to go skating tomorrow, and I know I won’t have time to go listen to the Caroling at the Cloud Gate, because I also need to visit my mom. Maybe next year 🙂
Saturday was the day of the Holiday Artisan Market on Jarvis Square, and Lena and I decided to take a break from baking and go there. I should have planned it more explicitly and allocated more time, but I only remembered about it a couple of days before the event that it was going to happen. That’s very characteristical of this holiday season – there were only few things which I planned well; it could be much more enjoyable if I won’t have all the extra stress and could leave all non-Christmas thoughts behind for a month.
Anyway, checking out the artists was fun, but as it often happens, I couldn’t decide what I want to buy. I am not showing a couple of things because they will be given to someone who checks out this blog periodically, but I want to show a couple of new ornaments:
Speaking about my Christmas tree, once again, I ordered it from Tree Santa, and don’t regret; just this time, the delivery was late (I suspect, due to the workers shortage, like many things happening these days). Since it was delivered at 7 PM on Sunday, there was no way I could decorate it then. Igor and I did the bulk of it on Monday evening, and then I finished it tonight, placing some additional ornaments, chocolates and candy canes, and gingerbread cookies.
My firm has a charitable contributions portal where you can pledge to one of the tens of thousands of charities directly from your paycheck, and in addition, you can also upload your donation receipts to be matched.
Last time I did it, it was only $500 match annually, which was very little, but at least something, so I uploaded a couple of the Night Ministry receipts, but I didn’t bother matching the monthly donations.
And I completely missed the moment when the matching amount for a year was tripled, and only saw it when the firm announced an additional $500 matching for two weeks of giving in November.
If you recall, for the past two weeks, I was under a lot of pressure at work and had absolutely no time to upload the receipts. Finally, last Friday, when HR reminded us about the last day of additional matching, I realized I did not want this money to be lost and needed to act fast.
Fortunately, my big project was on track, and I planned to leave early, so I spent the last hour and a half of my Friday workday uploading receipts. I was delighted to see that somebody had already submitted the Ukraine Trustchain to the list of approved charities, so our firm matches donations to them.
Most of my receipts are coming at the end of the year, so to speed things up, I chose from my one-time donations, which were already in my “taxes” list, but it was more than enough to use all of these 2K matching money, and I was so proud of myself that I didn’t let them go!
It used to be that around Thanksgiving I would announce on my social media that I am taking a month-long break from political and social issues and focusing on presents and cookies. This year, however, it was so much work, that all my Christmas activities would remain in the shade, and I am not even sure how I managed to get all charity presents, order the Christmas tree and schedule the holiday cookie baking.
Now, looking back at the first week of December, I am happy to report that it actually looked quite Christmasy.
I attended the first Christmas party of that season – the WiFi party – on Tuesday, and it was surprisingly fun, having that I barely participate in this group activities. I even added some LinkedIn connections!
Then it was Elf on Wednesday; and also, I went skating twice, once during the day and once after work, and saw this year’s Christmas tree.
I even stopped at the Christkindlmarket, although I want to go again at least twice!
And I already mailed all my international postcards, which is a record!
Boris wouldn’t care much about Christmas decorations, but he knows it’s important for me, so he always helps me to decorate during this Thanksgiving weekend.
This year, I made some changes in my decorating routine, threw away some old and worn decorations, and just stopped trying to put everything on display. Boris checked all the lights. One of the light strings was not working, but it turned out that I bought two extras last year just in case:).
The presents are for the Secret Santa for Chicago Public Schools, which I have been doing for at least 16 years. This year, I had three letters, and I managed to fit most of the requests into budget.
Today, I dropped off the presents at a collection point, and in a week and a half, they will be distributed. Next in line are the Night Ministry presents; I already purchased pretty much everything, just need to pack.
Wednesday was windy like never; Thursday and Friday was super-cold, and on Saturday, it was snowing, setting the record of the most snowiest day in Chicago in November!
Boris and I ventured to the Loop, because I wanted to go to the Art Institute, and do some holiday shopping. It was still cold, it was still very windy, plus, it was snowing!
I found this sweater in one of the boxes when we were installing new shelves in our storage unit. It was hand knitted for me by my grandaunt when I was eighteen, and I decided to try it on. Since it looked not bad at all, I decided to take it out :). I have received complements about it everywhere on that day!That was by our house at 3:30 PM, and it was not it!
Boris and I took turns cleaning our stairs because it was completely unsafe to use them:
By 6 AM, the snow was mostly over, and the cleaning crew came and cleaned it from everywhere, and then the snow started melting. However, it looks like it’s not it, and there will be more cold and more snow during the upcoming week.
There were no interesting concerts this weekend, so I suggested to Boris to go see Amadeus at the Steppenwolf Theater. Boris was skeptical, because he does not like the idea of the original play, because it’s based on unjust accusations, but he said he will go. As for me, I haven’t been to the Steppenwolf for a while, and wanted to go.
The Ensemble Theater before the show
During the first act, ot felt like a mock version of the movie, and during the intermission I asked Boris whether he wanter to go home. He said: no, the acting is great! Actually, I believe it was a new experience for him: I got the first row tickets, and because of how the Ensemble Theater is build, the acting was happening right in from of our eyes, so he could see most of it, was watching all the time with his eyes open 🙂
Then, during the second act, they started getting off the films score, and build something else, and that was much more interesting, so in the end, we both enjoyed it 🙂
One of many things when you think: why I didn’t do it earlier!
The storage shelves came from our old Palatine home, and we didn’t bother to replace them “just because we can still use them,” until they started to annoy me :).
Then, I tasked Boris with finding a replacement, and then the shelves arrived, and we assembled them (and then Boris was disassembling the old ones for two more hours:))
I still need to bring back the empty boxes after we finish decorating the house for Christmas!
We have a communal fridge near Rogers Park Metra station. Actually, it’s a little pantry with two blocks of shelves and a fridge in the middle (I believe, I posted the pictures earlier). Local stores sometimes drop off some produce there, but mostly it’s people who have some extras, or leftovers, or just want to share. Anyone can drop stuff on the shelves or in the fridge (labeling containers, if they are not industrially packaged). And anyone who passes by, can take anything out.
Yesterday, although I didn’t need to take a train, I walked there to drop off several unused cans of vegetables, a bag of green beans which we decided not to cook after all, and plastic box with roasted vegetables (we had a lot left, and I forgot to give a box to Anna & Family when they were leaving).
There were several people around when I approached to drop these items off, and the pantry was far from being empty, but the way they reacted at my offering made me regret I didn’t bring all of our leftovers there: oh, they are already cooked? Just warm them up? God bless you!
I recently read about one behavioral experiment: theology students where asked to deliver a talk on Good Samaritan, and half of them were notified right before they were ready to leave, that the talk time was changed and they were late. Then, in the way to their talk all of them were presented with a situation when a stranger was in a distress and needed help. While a substantial part of not-in-a-rush students stopped and tried to help, none of the those who thought they were late, stopped.
Unfortunately, being in a hurry is a major reason for not helping those in need. So many times I would plant to bring my leftovers to the communal fridge, but was in a hurry to catch a train, and knew that I would walk a bit slower with the leftovers, and all these minutes would accumulate, and I can always freeze what I didn’t eat, and in any case, what difference a pint of soup can make? I am nit saying “never more,” but ai will try very hard. I won’t forget the faces of those with whom I talked yesterday by the communal fridge, with their gray wrinkled skin and missing teeth.
We all are Rogers Park. Please forgive me. I will try to be better.
Hettie's Reflections 