Celebrating Chrismukkah the Jewish way

Miracle Max

I was going to do the Jewish Christmas today but was too tired after serving food at Kate's Kitchen (came home and fell asleep on the couch) so it's a good thing I did something like it last night on Hanukkah/Christmas Eve.

The "Spread the Light Community Hanukkah Event" at Congregation B'nai Israel in Northampton last night was a lot of fun. I didn't know anyone but sat at a table with people who were warm and welcoming. We lit menorahs, sang and said the prayers and then had Chinese food and watched "The Princess Bride."

I didn't realize that is considered to be a Jewish movie. But people said that's why it was chosen for the evening. I guess it's fitting, on a holiday having to do with miracles, to show the day being saved by a character named Miracle Max (Billy Crystal). And you have your Jewish actors: Crystal, Mandy Patinkin, Carol Kane and Peter Falk, who says, when he is finished reading the book, "Shalom."

You're not supposed to broadcast when you're going out of town (not safe) so I will say that at some point in the near future, Katie and I are going to New York to see Falsettos. A friend who is from Brooklyn calls New York "The Old Country," but when I say I'm going to The Old Country, not everyone gets it. Because to many around here, that's Ireland. In any case we're going to see some people and do a few other things in our short visit. In my Old Country.

Last week my essay, This is What It's Like Living With Two Types of DNA, ran on a new site for me, Vice.com. I told some people that it explains why I'm so weird. One of my doctors sent me a screenshot to show me that Apple News picked up. That was fun.

On the medical front, I found out last week that the spot that was concerning me was indeed another squamous cell cancer. It is larger than the others so it might need a graft. My first concern was that, since it's on my ankle, it's going to make me sit out of tennis and hurt my running comeback. These are not serious but just the sound of them freaks me out due to having lost a friend to a squamous cell cancer that appeared on her tongue and spread through her body after she survived leukemia.

And for days after, they hurt a lot. I'm wondering if it's going to be hard to get around for a few days.

It's a good thing I advocated for myself after a PA told me repeatedly that it was nothing. I don't think it has gotten any larger during that time but, unlike the others, it hurts, and I could have been done with it sooner. I'm going to Mohs on the ankle and my left hand the first week of January.

My blood pressure was super high at the dermatologist's on Thursday. I imagine it's because I spent a week being worked up about this. Someone said it also might be the election.

Merry Christmas and goodbye tooth

The kids are at Jim's, and it is just Maddie and me for Christmas, which I used to celebrate when there were children and a husband in the house, but which is no longer for me.

I am glad to be rid of all the hoopla, but which parent who has had young children in the house can forget the excitement and fun?

I amused myself last night by checking in with the Norad Santa Tracker,  watching Santa's journey around the world and keeping an eye on the digital counter showing how many gifts he had left. Last time I looked, he was over Warsaw, Poland. This morning I checked in again and saw that, his journey completed, he had delivered 7,060,919,100 gifts.

Next I made blueberry pancakes and watched "A Christmas Story," which gets better every time.

I'm going to walk Maddie and then see "American Hustle," and after that, bring home Chinese food to have with the kids. This time last year, I was eating Chinese food in Barcelona with Katie. We were surprised to find an excellent restaurant. We got there around 9 and thought nobody was coming, but then, it being Spain, diners started to file in until the place was filled.

Dec. 25 was my parents' anniversary. They got married then because, after the Christmas rush, it was a good day for my mother to close her jewelry store. My mother loved to tell the story of how she wanted to spend their wedding night at the Plaza, but my father insisted they stay across the street from Penn Station at a hotel with a tunnel connecting to the station. He was afraid that otherwise, the impending winter storm would keep them from catching the train to their honeymoon in Florida. As it turned out, the blizzard of 1947 roared in and they rolled out. She said that after that, father always knew best.

Moving on to another topic, I had the troublesome tooth #3 pulled on Monday. It still hurts a lot, but that is to be expected after an extraction. I am following my Dana-Farber doctor's guidelines on how much oxycodone I can take, and it is quite a bit. Yesterday I thought it was getting because I didn't take anything all afternoon or at night. That is a good sign, but today it kills again. I hope that with all the medication in me, I don't fall asleep at the movies.