Holy days.

I guess the holidays make me nostalgic. I've been writing an awful lot about my past lately. I'm not generally quite so sentimental, but December gets me going every time.

I'm going home to Kansas for Christmas and I'm staying for almost a week. It's going to be hella fun. There are a ton of people and places I want to see. It's been a while...I guess I was there last Christmas, and that was a whirlwind two day trip.

This year I'm spending nearly a week, but it's still going to be difficult to see absolutely everyone I want to see.

JuCoMo just bought some commercial space where he's going to open a coffee shop in downtown KCMO, so I'll get to see that. He may even have his big espresso machines in by the time I'm there...in which case we're going to lounge around caffeinating ourselves and making critical decor decisions, or at least deciding what music should be played for the grand opening. I have a lot of new electronic stuff I want to share with him...I'd better take some blank CDs.

DaBull is just retiring this month after a long career as a jurist full of stirring crap up...including one little drama recently where he temporarily shut down the entire public education system in the state of Kansas. I'm glad I'll get to see him before he jets off to Palm Springs to lounge by the pool for the remainder of the Winter.

My ex...let's call him Wapio...has agreed to meet me for lunch. This would not be so extraordinary except that I didn't get to see him before I moved to NYC, so it's been at least three years and possibly longer. I have a peculiar desire to touch base with him. I'm so incredibly different than I was in my early 20s, when he and I were together, and I guess I'm curious to see how he's changed. There was a time when I honestly believed I could not live without him, and that we would spend our lives together. I suppose that but for a handful of factors things might have turned out that way. It's interesting, though we may have little in common now, he was once a very important part of my life, and I want to keep in touch with him.

Another highlight will be going to midnight mass at Grace Cathedral in Topeka. I used to sing in the choir at Grace and I have many acquaintances there who it will be lovely to see. Not to mention that the service is usually beautiful, with a ton of music and a bit of sparkly wonderment at the end, when they turn off all the lights and the congregation is hushed as they watch the glowing nativity stained glass window, which is lit from the outside for the evening.

And then there's my family...but I think I will save those traditions for another post.