the holidaze are upon us.

this is how I spent the night before thanksgiving: emitting roughly three gallons of sweat at the Berg Field Center (BFC) party. the theme was cheesy 1980s. the music was awesome. the air was sultry. the costumes were tacky. (think day-glo, ripped sweatshirts, leg warmers, members only jackets, side ponytails, tight-rolled jeans, and eye shadow.)


thanksgiving dinner this season was a lovely affair as usual. here I am with delaney and jared. not sure what exactly was going through my mind at the moment, but I seem to be mulling it over carefully.






my co-worker christina had a surprise birthday party on november 14, thrown by her scheming boyfriend bryan. I love christina. she's my personal trainer, relationship coach, common-sense sounding board, and cat herder rolled into one ridiculously fit body. watching her play volleyball is like listening to 'hitch a ride' by boston or eating nine flavor beef at lee's asian restaurant in west seattle: pure perfection.

here's my other lovely co-worker myrna and me at thanksgiving dinner. myrna is one of those people I never, ever have to worry about. she's a self-contained dynamo who can assist dozens of grantees at a time with redeployment travel arrangements, donate a gazillion grains of rice every week to the UN Food Program at www.freerice.com, and still find the time to assist with the christmas choir or create lovely centerpieces for the holiday tables in the galley. we've been sitting four feet away from each other for months and haven't tired of it yet.

thanksgiving, it seems, was just yesterday. and christmas is a week and a half away.

I've somehow found myself in the position of holiday choir coordinator this season. as of a couple of weeks ago, no one had stepped forward to take up the reins, so my friend martin convinced me to jump in. having been involved with (and emotionally scarred by) the choir effort two seasons ago made me a bit wary, but the response has been more than enough to assure me that it was the right move -- lots and lots of people who love to sing have showed up at rehearsal, and have tackled the old favorites with gusto.

we're holding regular practices and are slated to perform in at least two venues over the long holiday weekend: the heavy shop party and caroling at mac ops. I alluded to these two years ago during my first season on the ice. the heavy shop hosts the big bash of the season, for which they degrease the floors, put up decorations, clear a space for dancing, set up a snowmobile on which guests can pose for pictures with santa, and load tables with all kinds of delectable goodies. there are usually one or two fistfights during the course of the evening, to make things interesting. always a good time. and caroling at mac ops to the field camps and south pole over the radio, and hearing them sing back, is enough to make even sometimes-scroogy me feel the holiday spirit.

one thing that will definitely help to put me in the holiday spirit is the fact that I have been selected, with five others, to be a santa's elf this season. every christmas the NSF representative dresses up as santa, takes half a dozen people from the community as his elves, and flies out to the field camps in a helicopter to deliver gifts and holiday cheer. my co-worker christina coordinates the selection process, in which supervisors nominate their employees for the honor, and the final decision is made by the NSF rep. I was informed three days ago that christina and david (my boss) were in cahoots to get me on the list. I'm still in shock. weather permitting, we'll go next thursday or friday. one of the destinations is the dry valleys, a specially protected area of great environmental interest, that receives almost no moisture or precipitation of any kind. this, coupled with extremely low temperatures and relatively high salt accumulation, produces a unique ecosystem in which scientists can research geological formations and processes in a virtually untouched setting.

off to lunch. some sort of lentil loaf is on the menu. I believe I'll be visiting the sandwich bar.

elfin love,
cindy