This will sound strange to many people, I’m sure, but amidst runs to the grocery store and other errands (oh, the excitement) I ended up doing something that I’d never done before—I met one of my neighbors.

I’m not entirely sure why I haven’t ever met any of my neighbors before. At Peachtree (1996-2001), I honestly didn’t even see the three neighbors on my floor for a couple of months, and then I just felt silly introducing myself at that point. I know, I should’ve said something, but… well, there we go. Then at Archstone (2001-2005), I only had one neighbor on my floor because the ground floor was built into a hill and so two of the four areas were equipment storage. There I’d occasionally smile and nod at the person who lived across the way, but neither of us ever talked to the other person. So there you go.

Now that I’m in Woodbury Park (2005+), I had once or twice held the door for the older woman on my floor, but she never seemed really ready to talk. (And she’s since moved out, and while I think there might be someone else there now, I have yet to see any real evidence of him or her, just that flyers on the doorstep vanish.) The people on either side I also hadn’t ever seen for months, and I am never even entirely sure at any given moment if there’s anyone in apartment on my left.

However! The apartment on my right which went vacant about two months ago now has a new inhabitant. He had the door propped open while I was heading out, so I said hello and gave him my name (and vice versa). That was painless.

But… I dunno… for some reason I’ve never felt like really introducing myself. Like doing so would be saying, “You’re going to be living there forever, time to know the locals.” Is this just me when it comes to a rented apartment?

(That said, I do quite love my neighborhood. If I could afford to buy in it, I would!)

Christmas came and went this year not with a bang, but with a slight murmur. We’d “split” Christmas this year, due to not everyone in my immediately family being able to come home for the holiday-the first time ever for us. So we’d had what I’ve been calling “mini-Christmas” a week and a half earlier, then the actual event again on the 25th but absent some key participants.

While the experience was certainly enjoyable both times, somehow it seemed to lessen the overall effect of the holiday. Maybe it’s because the holiday for me has strongly leaned towards everyone being home and together, and even at “mini-Christmas” that wasn’t really the case, doubly so since everything was still open and there wasn’t that day where we were all together and doing things and generally driving each other crazy.

But don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed myself. In some ways this muted holiday was the best one I’d had in a while, because the different circumstances seemed to rob any opportunities for drama. (Well, not entirely true. But close enough, at any rate.) It was definitely stretched out, though, and of course while the holiday isn’t just about exchanging gifts, the fact that even that got moved into three days (some with family on the 14th, more with family on the 25th, then with Charlie on the 28th) made it feel a bit odd.

Happily, though, people seemed to like what they received. I sometimes find myself really worrying about what to get people, because I want them to really enjoy the gift, the idea that they’ll know that they’re important to me and I thought about them for a while before making a selection. (Even choosing off an online wish list is something that I try and do with care, and if necessary I will abandon said list and go in an entirely different direction.) I got some lovely gifts in return as well, some fun games for the Wii and PSP, a few books I’ve been coveting (and how fun is it to get a coffee-table art book where you actually own one of the pieces spotlighted?), a couple of DVDs, some CDs, some refills on products I use (like cologne and body lotion), a piece or two of clothing… all things very much appreciated and enjoyed.

On the whole, though, it’s been a little quiet. Charlie and I had tickets to see Avery Brooks perform Tamburlaine at the Shakespeare Theatre for the 27th, only to have the production cancelled due to Brooks being injured (and the original understudy having to suddenly leave the production due to a family emergency). Thankfully, after two weeks of cancellations, it is now resuming and we’re rescheduled for next weekend on closing night. Hopefully Brooks will be able to resume the role then, but I’ll just be happy to finally see it. I spent part of the holiday just feeling tired (although a 6-miler on Christmas Day helped shake the doldrums), and a little wistful that due to both of us having family engagements, not spending the day itself with Charlie. But we’ve got plenty of time for that down the road.

Really, though, when it all comes down to it? While Christmas dinner was pending one final arrival, I remember sitting downstairs in the living room with one of my sisters, four cousins, and a close friend while we discussed the movie playing, Christmases in general, relatives who weren’t there, and any other conversational tangent that jumped out. And it was really nice. So there we go, really.

Only 361 more days until Christmas.

I recently bought two new bookcases (the Sloane from Crate & Barrel), which I absolutely love. I spent Monday evening putting them together, and then moving everything off the old bookcases (which are now sitting in the middle of the living room) and then onto the new ones. But in the process, of course, a lot of dust got stirred up. (It’s amazing how much dust was piled up on the very top of those shelves.)

I’ll be giving the entire area a good vacuuming once everything is picked up and done (there’s still some piles of stuff from the old shelves on the floor, plus of course the shelves themselves still hanging around) but the one other thing that’s always helped in the past is opening up the windows and letting the apartment air out. So after two lovely days in which we’ve had temperatures in the high-50s and even hitting the 60s, I chose this morning to open the windows.

Naturally, that means the high today will be something like 46 degrees. I suspect when I get home from spinning tonight, I’ll have flashbacks to the walk-in fridges from past employments. And now, looking at the weather forecast, tomorrow? High of 58 degrees. Hmmmm, maybe I should have waited until tomorrow. Oh well.

On the bright side, I really do love those bookshelves. And I might be doing a little reorganizing of the living room area in general as a result. Woohoo!