Sunday morning thoughts – December 24, 2023

Oh wait, it’s Christmas Eve?

I just ate a piece of homemade Butterzopf. Just plain. It’s so good it doesn’t need any jam or honey. I showed it off to some of you last night on Zoom. Or was that early today? I think it might have been. Now reminded of a bit of grape jelly silliness that includes two of my favorite people. Love you guys! Silliness is so important. And there was a lot of that going on in New York.

Yes, I know I’m back home now. But tell you what, I’m gonna be drawing strength from that visit for a while. It’s also the reason I chose this picture for today’s thoughts.

Almost home - December 20, 2023

I might have traveled a long way to see friends and to spend a great five days in NYC but being there felt so natural. I mean having a casual lunch like it’s something we do every week. It felt so natural that none of us remembered to take a picture. It felt like we’d be doing it again this week. Anyway, I have the best friends. I’m not excluding people elsewhere or Switzerland at all. I just got a Buon Natale message with the funniest picture from Italy. It’s just that the It’s Just Us crowd is extra special. If you know – you know!

I’m missing everybody.

Before I start tearing up again, let me tell you about my trip home. I don’t mean the flight (uneventful, I slept for four hours, we ate good food (the vegetarian option was by Hiltl), got chocolates made just down the street from where I live and arrived in Zurich four minutes late). I’m talking about how fast I got home from the airport.

So, my Swiss brain decided that it was completely possible to touch down at 6.14 and be on the 6.48 train home (that’s a direct train to Aarau). I’ve done it before. Anyway, usually when you arrive at terminal E your bags beat you to baggage claim, especially this early in the morning. That didn’t work this time. And even if, it would have been tight. I got to baggage claim at 6.40. Our bags were “delayed”. I’m putting it in “ ” because I don’t think it would be considered a delay elsewhere. I could have totally made it otherwise. It takes about five minutes to get from baggage claim to the trains. It’s really easy. You exit, cross the street and go down a couple of escalators.

I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Not a problem really, I just had to change trains at Zurich main station and “lost” 30 minutes. So I was at home pretty much exactly two hours after touch down. Still not too bad. It would have been a better story if I’d made the 6.48 train though. Swiss efficiency and such.

Oh, have I told you about the train you take from terminal E to the main building? It’s hilarious. There’s Heidi, there’s cows, there’s mountains and there’s yodeling. We don’t find it embarrassing at all. Totally not cringe-worthy but hey – tourist seem to like it.

Now how do I get from here to another part that I wrote first? Transitions, not my strongest point. But I do need to talk about Santa and his reindeer. I really do. This is important because Santa’s reindeer are girls – they have antlers, don’t they? Feel free to fact check, but female reindeer keep their antlers until they give birth in the new year, whereas male reindeer lose their antlers in the fall. So, clearly Santa’s reindeer need new names. I don’t know any of them except for Rudolph and a couple of others (it’s not something I grew up with). How many are there and what are your name suggestions?

Now in Switzerland tonight is Heiligabend (that translates to holy evening) and this is when the Christkind (literally Christ child) brings the presents. That means we don’t have to wait until Christmas morning. Also, we don’t really need Santa to arrive overnight. It’s all over and done with by then.

I do like holiday traditions. At least some of them. And when Tim Arnold of 360 Timmy fame joined “It’s Just Us” on Zoom last night, he reminded me of a Swiss and German New Year’s Eve tradition. I’m mentioning it today because I might forget next week. It’s not something I do, but it’s something that’s on TV every New Year’s Eve. It’s called Dinner for One. I’ve added the link because I still have that tab open from last night.

Since I mentioned 360 Timmy – I’m gonna tell everybody to watch the two-part interview Tim did with David (part 1 and part 2). If you’re like me and the videos are a bit too busy, and your senses get overwhelmed easily – there’s also an audio only version. Brilliant interview that highlights why David is so popular. I had to sneak that in here and I hope it made somebody smile.

I now have two full weeks off and I have NO plans whatsoever. Just the way I like it. Hugs all around – the good kind.

Happy holidays everybody – whatever you do, wherever you are.