Off to a great start on the every-day-of-vacation-posting (not).
The boiler at Chez Coop kicked out on Christmas Eve; oy, what a fun adventure. (daaamn) I'd called the plumber on the morning of the 23rd cause I'd noticed the ancient appliance was needing more water in it every couple of days - as opposed to its usual every 5 - 7 day regime - but he was backed up with appointments in advance of the holidays, and since it wasn't an emergency, we decided he'd come over after. Luckily, he gave me his emergency number just in case anything went wrong.
When the BF and I came back from an energetic concert in NYC on Xmas eve, the house was really cold - the thermostat read 57 degrees. Uh oh. I went down the basement to check things out, and the heater was clearly kaput - no heat, no pilot light (yeah, it's a REALLY old system ...) but it was nearly midnight - too late to call the plumber (as if calling on Xmas day would be way better), but with the thermostat reading just 52 in the morning, I decided this was the sort of situation those emergency numbers were for ... and god bless Mr. Plumber Man: he came out on Xmas day and fixed the old sucker.
I'm one of those people who gets cold when it's 65 degrees, so I never take heat for granted in the winter time, but I was beyond thankful when the old generator was replaced and I heard that comforting whoosh from the flame popping back on, and the radiators began clinking and hissing in steamy bliss.
Once Mr. Plumber Man was finished restoring the house to warmth, I got on the road (several hours later than i'd planned) and headed south on a mini-road trip to meet up with my bestest friend from CA days (who now lives in NC) at a half-way-ish spot not far from DC. Neither of us celebrates Xmas, but the gift of each others presence for two days was a celebration of sorts. There were hours of conversation, yummy chow and yummy wine, a walk in the misty (but not cold) rain, a Wii bowling tournament (a very close 2 out of three, but in the end, she prevailed), an under-the-covers viewing of In Bruges (what a great flic; how did i miss that before now?), and a few more hours of conversation.
Yesterday I (and the rest of the east coast's Xmas weekend travelers) returned home. The NJ Turnpike was a bit of a nightmare, but the sky was clear and the weather was mild, so I kept my window open as the traffic inched from Exit 6 to Exit 8, and pulled out my trusty bubbles, blowing them out the window of my car as I listened to one of my better uplifting iPod mixes and did my best to chill during the 30something miles that I crawled up the Turnpike.
Home by about 4:30, and in bed by around 7 (my health is improving, but i still get draggy after a couple of days of back-to-back activity).
And today there were errands to run, a (warm) house to clean, and plans to firm up with family and friends who are visiting from out of town. Even with the detours of a boiler on the fritz and slow holiday traffic, I could get used to this pace.