Christmas, Etc.

Ok, I haven’t written about Christmas yet, and I should probably get some words down before Christmas seems way in the past, although I already feel a bit weird talking about Christmas, and today’s the 28th. Here we go:

Christmas Eve
The boys performed at the UU Christmas pageant in the morning. T was a reader, S was a donkey, and N was a shepherd. They did well, and I thought the program was organized better than in the past. The kids moved in and out of the sanctuary smoothly, and the entire event took less than forty minutes. I suppose S and N had to sit too long on the floor in the front, but hey, they survived, so I don’t want to quibble. My service ADD was in full force. I watched some of the program from the back of the sanctuary. I saw more from the hallway outside the cry room. I saw a bit more from the lobby. F—k it, I can’t stay still. I stuck around for twenty minutes or so of the “post service cookie” thing, until I literally couldn’t stand the experience any further. I drove home and sat on the couch for what I hoped was a football afternoon.
So much for my hopes. M had told the boys they could open one present before Christmas, and the kids aimed for the largest boxes they could find. The first box was a huge Star Wars lego set. The second set was another huge Star Wars lego set. When I say “huge”, I’m talking three hundred pieces each, conservatively, and four hours of assembly for a structural engineer. What the f—k? I found out M’s brother sent the presents. I hit the roof. What the hell was he thinking? He’s got kids. He should know better. Turns out M RECOMMENDED these presents. I was pissed. I put together about the first hour’s worth of a Death Star, then turned the rest over to M. I finally had to leave because M was getting bitchy about the whole thing, even bitchier than myself, and I was ready to blow. A quick drive around town calmed me down.
Christmas Eve was ok. We tried to order pizza but every pizza place in the phone book was closed. Strange. I thought Christmas Eve was a traditional pizza night. We settled for high-end frozen pizza. I helped the kids get to sleep, read some Elroy, and fell asleep.

Christmas

The boys were up early, but not too horribly early, now that I think about it. We did the whole presents thing right after breakfast. M did a good job with the shopping…I didn’t help much this year. At least one gift is a hit that I don’t expect to be a hit every year. This Christmas a small stuffed tiger N deemed “Jackie” became the toy of choice. N hardly leaves a room without Jackie. The Wii, of course, was the present du jour. I set up the system in the spare bedroom and let the boys do their thing.
Christmas afternoon is always a bit weird. I didn’t have much to do, as my presents were practical (e.g. this weird anti-sinus mask thing M got me) or gift cards. I watched some television and cleaned the kitchen. Then I made dinner, pasta rolls and acorn squash with blueberries (same as Thanksgiving, more or less). Later on I watched “Little Miss Sunshine” with M and her mom. Man, that movie was fantastic. I was slightly drunk, so perhaps my radar was off, but I don’t think so. I want a poster of the film for my office.

Here's a pic of the boys in front of the tree, just before they opened their presents:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i196/randomanthony/december032.jpg

Day After Christmas

These days start to bleed together. I played hoops in the morning. M had to drop off her Mom at the airport. They hit the mall early for exchanges and lunch. The boys played with their toys while I did some laundry and tried to clean the house. Too many toys were around to make much headway. After M returned I…I…I…don’t remember what I did. Oh, I watched “My Superhero Ex-Girlfriend”. The film was surprisingly ok. Perhaps my taste has diminished, and I’ll laugh at anything. I don’t know. Later I hit Blockbuster (crowded), returned the films, and picked up three more (The Last Kiss, Black Dahlia, Jackass Two). I cruised the computer, trying to decide between an Ipod and Satellite Radio (I snagged a 100 buck gift certificate to Best Buy from M’s mom) and played Wii with the kids. Here’s a picture of us all playing Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam. Oh, M also barely…BARELY…beat me at Wii boxing. Let us never speak of that event again.

Here's a pic of the boys and myself playing the Tony Hawk Skateboarding game. You can barely see me...I'm wearing the green shirt on the left:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i196/randomanthony/december103.jpg

Dec. 27th

I drove into work after basketball and spent about four hours cleaning, answering emails, and working through a week’s worth of mail. The routine correspondence didn’t present much of a problem, although my brain was somewhat fried by the time I left for home. I also watered the plants and fed the office fish. Oh, I stopped at Borders for new calendars (Japanese Art-Office, Dragonology-Home) and picked up another copy of Aristotle’s Ethics. I had lent the last copy to a student who passed away not long ago.
The rest of the day was painless. The boys and I watched tv and played Wii (getting better at Bowling). Dan and I talked on the phone for a while. I think he’s at PBK’s mom’s funeral today. I fell asleep on the couch before eight. Not sure from where the fatigue emerged, but man, I was hit hard. I didn’t wake this morning until after seven…slept for close to twelve hours, missed Thursday morning basketball.

Today

I had planned on working on observation transcripts this morning at the library, but I felt guilty that M and the boys were on their own, so I suggested we go up to Green Bay to check out the Packers crap. We decided on the Domes instead. I’m glad we made the change, as the Domes are way closer (about sixty minutes closer, at least), and I wasn’t in the mood for a long drive. We arrived at the Domes by 10:30. Now, as far as tourist attractions go, the Domes are pretty lame. The Domes consist of three large glass, well, domes. Any male over the age of three wouldn’t be able to help seeing them as breasts. Let’s get that out of the way right at the start. Anyway, one dome is an arid habitat, one dome is a rain forest habitat, and the third is, well, I’m not sure, but the third dome contained a lot of poinsettias and Christmas decorations, so maybe the third dome rotates. I’m a plant guy, so I found most of the foliage interesting, but my kids grew bored pretty quickly. We didn’t spend more than thirty minutes between the three spaces. I guess the boys liked looking for stray birds and reading about some of the weird plants, but I can’t blame the boys for their natural attention span. We got the Domes out of their system, anyway, and they had been asking to visit the site for a while. I’m not sure why they were asking for a Domes visit, by the way...a mention at school may have piqued their interest. All three kids had seen the Domes at least twice, I think, but they had forgotten the experiences. That’s ok. The Domes aren’t exactly memorable.
I ate vegetables and chili beans for lunch (as I did yesterday) then Wii bowled against T for a while. M and I watched a couple of “My Boys” episodes. I decided to cook something new, so I went through the cookbooks and hit the supermarket. The checker accidentally beaned a mildly developmentally disabled bagger (slowest in the store, in case you were wondering) with a case of diet root beer. I’m not sure how that happened…I think she was leaning over to put the case under the cart just as the bagger leaned down for another paper bag. I know this will sound horrible, but I almost peed my pants trying not to laugh. Anyway, the case burst open. I told the checker not to worry about getting another one, but she insisted. The neighbor girls were over by the time I arrived home. We settled on Boboli pizza for dinner. I f—ked it up somehow. I think I didn’t cook the pizza long enough…the crust came out tough and chewy. S—t. Later S and I played “War” (he called the game “Kings” for some reason) with an oversized deck of cars he received from the neighbors for Christmas. Later T and I watched some “Scrubs”. I just checked on the boys, and all three are either asleep or near sleep. Good night.