What would the holidays be like without...

...coldsores? Those good ol' Herpes simplex virus-1 infection (HSV-1) thingies? I love them. The canary in the coal mine for my overall well-being. I can tell very early on whether I'm getting run down physically and/or mentally by the outbreak of these little darlings. Actually, in a good way the older I get the more sensitive I am to immune system compromise and those cute little coldsores tend to appear much earlier on than they used to. Luckily, I also treat myself a lot better than I used to so I don't get outbreaks very often anymore. But at the holiday season, they always tend to rear their ugly whiteheads at some point or another. The endless barrage of holiday parties and the stress of hosting events, trying to maintain an exercise schedule, and sleeping irregularly all take their toll.

We got Xmas out of the way. The dinner on Sunday night went off surprisingly well, with 24 mouths stuffed and lots of laughs. I felt so sorry for Joe -- I thought it was pretty insensitive that people were calling him up on the 23rd to invite themselves to the dinner. Like, what was he supposed to do? Say 'no'? It's Xmas, after all. The Spag staff had a great time and I'm sure that gives Joe more brownie points with the people he works with. We had everyone kicked out by 1:30am, and only one puke pile to clean up on the balcony (ahh...the naivety of youth mixed with the exuberance of excessive liquor consumption). Was it worth it? Well, my man now has the flu after several stress breakdowns on the 24th and he threw his back out on Xmas morning moving furniture back into place (and stubbing his toe getting stuff moved into place the day before). I'd ask him that question, but I'd be wary of the unpredictable grumpiness.

Xmas day was very quiet. I had intentions to go out for a ride with Reid and Keith, but the noon departure time was too early. I ended up spending a lot of time on the computer and watching movies (Star Trek Marathon!) after opening gifts, cleaning all the dishes and pots from the evening before and calling my family in Manitoba and having the phone passed around to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Yesterday I got out for a run with Ross and then headed over to Noel and Allie's open house in Dover. They completely gutted the house they just bought this fall and renovated the entire place. It's looking rather fantastic. I got home around 9:30 and went to bed early in preparation for a return to work today.

I was on call over the holiday and got a service/incident call at least once per day. I'm not too happy about that, but at least I wasn't really on holidays. That's coming up in 2007 when I start using up my 22 days of A/V, six flex days and three days of time in lieu I have coming to me.

Tonight I'm supposed to be meeting up with Kathie and John. I used to live with Kathie in Red Deer, but her and John have been living in Ontario for the past few years and we catch up whenever she's in town to visit her family. It's half snowing/raining outside today so I'm not sure if they're going to be able to make it into Calgary from Kathie's parents place in Langdon.

Jason H's gathering goes on Friday night, and then Joe and I will be busy getting things ready for the NYE party on the weekend.