Well, it was a good weekend, I guess, although it could have been better, and definitely could have been less painful.

Friday evening brought a visit to the Minnesota History Center for my employer’s annual holiday party. It was a cool and enjoyable affair, unfortunately marred by the underside of my tongue getting stuck on my lower braces. When it first got stuck I wasn’t immediately sure what had happened, and when I opened my mouth for Lisa to take a look I was greeted by an expression that could only be described as unmitigated horror. I quickly made my way to the bathroom, and as soon as I looked in the mirror I understood why. I don’t know what those little knobs on the underside of one’s tongue are called, but I managed to get one not just wrapped under the lower brace wire, but also threaded back through two of my lower teeth.

My first thought was pretty simple: I’m fucked. That little knob had been stretched out almost an inch, a feat I’d previously hadn’t known was possible. I tried moving it with one of my fingers, but it was tied tight. For a moment, I actually wondered if a trip to the hospital was in order, but in one of those strange coincidences, I just happened to have a paper clip in my pocket that evening. I bent it open and used it to unthread my tongue, a slightly bloody and extremely painful little operation. About a minute later my tongue finally popped loose, and I was free to deal with the problem of blood pooling in my mouth.

So, uh, it was a fun evening.

~~~

Today, as it happens, was Christmas tree day. Suffice to say what was meant to be a brief excursion to pick up a tree, plus a couple stops to see what new lighting decorations are available this year, somehow snowballed into an eight-plus hour, $200 excursion that ended with a huge tree and nine strings of energy-efficient LED Christmas lights that don’t quite match each other in color. The original plan was for us to decorate the tree tonight, but in the end it was enough for us to just get it up and lit. The actual decorating, plus mulled apple cider and other delightful holiday crap, will have to wait until tomorrow.