Tag: Christmas

Christmas Eve Revisited

Every year since I started dating my wife I have been a part of her family’s christmas eve party. They were originally at her mother’s house, then they were at our house, now they are at her mother’s house again. This year, in order to get both of the kids there at the same time, we had to push it from the 24th to the 29th. Today. That means today is technically our christmas eve.

Just when you thought the holiday was over, we pull you back in!

Happy christmas eve revisited, everyone! HoHoHo again!

Merry Christmas

Santa Claus came. Mostly. He still has a couple of things to finish before the kids wake up, but it’s 6:30am and there are presents under the tree for the kids.

The kids are both home. Bellana got here a smidge before midnight last night. We’re all here now and all is right with the world.

HoHoHo! Merry Christmas!

First Day of Winter

Well… it’s winter again. Again. Literally winter, as opposed to the last three plus months which was figuratively winter. Literal winter runs from December to March. Here in New England, figurative winter runs from September 1st through sometime in late June. The upside of the first day of winter is that from now on the days start getting longer. The downside is that it’s going to get colder and more awful with each passing day, and it’s going to take so long for the days to get longer enough that it matters that it won’t make any real difference for months.

I hate winter.

December 21st puts us in the home stretch for xmas. I am still waiting for the amazonians to deliver a couple of things so the wrapping is still not complete. I have to go out and pick up a few things today as well. That includes some food supplies for xmas eve, xmas dinner, and our slightly delayed annual xmas eve party which happens on the Sunday after xmas this year. I also need to bring my work-holiday gift to my sister’s today so we can have it with xmas dinner.

I need to play guitar but there probably won’t be time for it. I need to go out and take pictures of stuff but the weather likely won’t let me. Ugh.

Lots to do, but I can’t do anything until I clean the tiny amount of snow we got yesterday off of the cars and the driveway. Ugh.

I hate winter. Remember that time a few years ago when we went to Florida in January and the weather was warm? Can we maybe do that again?

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Best Gift Ever

Daily writing prompt
Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.
View all responses

Share one of the best gifts I’ve ever received? No. I’ll share two of them. Today’s daily writing prompt is a two-for-one special babie, yeah!

When I was a little kid one of my friends had a toy Tonka ambulance. It was awesome. It was the best ambulance on Earth. It was the best Tonka truck ever. Damn if I wasn’t one jealous miniature red head. I did what most American kids do when they want something awesome. I asked Santa Claus to bring it to me for Christmas. Santa failed me. I asked again the next year. Santa failed me again. Santa never came through at all.

Fast forward to December 2007. I’d been dating this amazing woman for about eight months. She was amazing. I was nuts about her. I think she may have liked me a little in return. I say that because she went to Ebay, found the legendary Tonka ambulance and bought it for me as a Christmas present. Holy shit, what an amazing gift! I could not, and literally still cannot believe it. I told you she was amazing. I should note that I am still absolutely crazy in love with her. We have been married since 2009. She’s the one.

The second part of this two-for-one extravaganza comes from 2021. It was my 50th birthday. Things were very tough for me that year. My father was in the hospital and my mother was dealing with an advancing case of dementia. My brother and sister and I were taking turns staying with my mother while my father was recovering. I woke up at my parent’s house on my birthday and didn’t get home until the afternoon. When I did, my wife and my step son threw me a little birthday party. I was so happy. I can’t even begin to tell you how happy they made me that day, and that was before I opened any birthday presents.

There was one gift that they were both practically giddy over. I opened it and saw this:

They bought me a guitar. Holy shit snacks, My wife got me a guitar for my birthday. What a legendary surprise! Before I even opened the case it was already tied for first for the best gift ever. Then I opened the case and found a brand new Gibson Les Paul Standard ’50s. Absolutely epic!

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There you have it. Two absolutely Earth rocking gifts. By far the two best gifts I’ve ever received. No question. I told you my wife was amazing. I told you!

Hey Gemini, generate an image of a jedi knight sitting under a christmas tree opening an amazing christmas gift.

Bah Humbug Day

It’s New Year’s Day. Is everyone having a nice holiday today? I hope so.

This is the day that we celebrate the new year by getting rid of all of the xmas decorations. It is the time for me to embrace my inner scrooge or my inner grinch and put an end to the season and put the house back to normal. Insert the sound of my sigh of relief here.

My initial plan was to wait for Harry to get out of bed at some point in the early afternoon and then Jen and Harry and I could just crank our way through all of the decorations together. It would take no time at all. Then when I finished my morning routine I decided to bring a couple of the boxes we store the decorations in upstairs with me and I’d pick off a few things on my own. Next thing I knew the tree was gone. Jen went from room to room and pulled most of the rest of the stuff out and stacked it on the dining room table. I took a break for some water and some meds and some real estate shopping TV show episodes and then brought a few more boxes upstairs and… next thing we knew, everything was gone. The house has been 100% de-xmased. 

It is glorious.

I still need to move some furniture around in the living room, move a bunch of empty amazon shipping boxes to the cellar, put a new cat tree together, and then help Jen cook a super fancy dinner. That is a long to-do list, but it is fine because the decorations are done.

Again… glorious, said the grinchy scrooge. 

Xmas is Complete

We are home again. Another xmas gathering is in the books. We went to my in-laws and had dinner and swapped gifts. It was lovely and it brings the holiday to a close.

Tomorrow? Back to work. Not only that, but it’s an in the office day.

Crud.

The count down to New Years is on. We thought about New York (but not Times Square) but now we’re thinking of maybe taking a day next weekend and visiting Newport, RI. Newport is famous for gilded age, rich people houses but for me it’s more famous as the birthplace of Throwing Muses. 

Will we do either of these things? Who knows. There are three more days until the next long weekend. As Traffic said on their amazing second album, who knows what tomorrow may bring?

New Watch Day

Santa Claus brought me a new Apple Watch for xmas yesterday. HoHoHolyShit, that’s cool! It’s a series 9. I’m not even sure what’s new with it. I have some research to do. It has an oxygen sensor, I think? Cool!

It took some doing to pair it with my iPhone. It failed twice before it worked, but now we’re up to speed. I haven’t had the battery up to 100% yet, but it’s getting there. I just did a 45 minute workout, the first with the new device. 45 minutes of jogging in place (pronounced yogging, with a soft “j”).

I got a bunch of really cool xmas gifts. Two members of my family heard me constantly bitching about how cold I feel now that I am down 200 pounds and got me heated blankets. You can bet your ass I am going to use the hell out of those. I also got a couple of cool Rush things. A magazine and a puzzle. There was a print of a photo of me and my mother dancing at the wedding. My mother is smiling from ear to ear. It’s perfect and I may have started crying a little when I saw it. I think my family members, my wife and my two step kids, might like me a little. I think they might keep me around.

Still to come is xmas celebration at Jen’s mother and step father’s house. That is still a few hours away, but I am looking forward to it. Any time we can get the kids over Nana and Papa’s house is a good time. It doesn’t happen often anymore, but it’s always great when it does.

HoHoHope your day after xmas is going well.