A uni-Christmas

My Christmas extended weekend got off to a good start Thursday night with the Eagles getting the first division win of the year, beating the Giants.  Although the Eagles season has definitely slid downhill after a very promising start, I am hoping the team is laying the foundation for longer term success.

Friday morning Cindy and I were very busy outside.  Cindy invited her family over for Christmas dinner.  The yard was looking pretty ragged.  I went to Home Depot and grabbed 15 pieces of sod to patch up various spots around the yard that were damaged by the chickens or just looked shitty.

While I was there I also picked up a 9 foot tall inflatable snowman to add to our already very festive outdoor decorations.  It was 50% off so it was hard to pass up.  I spent a lot of time securing it in the yard to make it hold up to wind.  I drove two pieces of rebar into the ground on either side and used two 45 pound weight plates to give it four very strong tie down points.  I was very happy with the outcome of my work.  I was also very sad when the blower motor on it died three days later.

So anyway, Friday morning I was busting ass non-stop.  In addition to getting the sod down I weed whacked the yard.  Cindy hopped on the mower to give the grass a nice even look as well.

Friday night we made plans with Daniel and Katie to go ride out at Ave Maria.  We thought with it being two days before Christmas the town would be quite cool to see.  Well it was cool but not quite the way I expected.  The town center itself and especially the iconic church was not as decked out as I expected.  But that wasn’t the most surprising thing.  The town was more or less deserted.  We rode around there for at least an hour and could count the amount of people we saw on one hand.  It was sort of surreal, it was almost like a scene from Walking Dead.  We wheeled around freely in the middle of the street in the heart of town like we owned the place.

The residential neighborhoods had some nice decorations out so we still got our fill of lights to see.  It was just a very weird experience to see so few people in a town that supposedly has 27,000 residents. Take a look below if you don’t believe me.

On Christmas Eve I did something I don’t believe I had done since my first marriage, went to a church service.  Cindy had mentioned something a day or two before about asking someone to go to church with her, something she used to always do with Katie and her mom.  I told her I had a good idea.  I said I would attend a Christmas Eve service with her if she would agree to go back to Victoria Park to ride the wheels Christmas Eve night.  She agreed to the deal and was touched I would go with her to the service based on the void of religious beliefs that I have.

We went to Living Word Church, about 5 miles away from the house.  They were holding services on the hour during the afternoon which seemed very aggressive.  We targeted the 2 PM service and arrived with possibly 30 seconds to spare.  The parking lot was jammed, we luckily found a spot behind the church.

When we walked in I was surprised at the layout, stadium seating.  Every church I ever attended had the conventional pugh configuration.  Those stadium seats almost were entirely taken.  Cindy and I thought we would have to stand until one guy offered to have his kid sit on his lap so we could sit together which was very kind of him.

The room was very high tech with a huge video screen powered by three projectors.  On the stage was a two person band consisting of an electric piano and a guy on a guitar.  They backed up three  female singers that were really, really good who sang Christmas carols.  The service itself was like a fine tuned machine with the pastors words peppered with visual elements on the screen above him, all perfectly coordinated.  It almost felt like I was watching a TV production and that isn’t meant to be negative, it was actually quite impressive.

With services on the hour the production had to be quite quick.  It was all done in the span of 35 minutes, just short enough for the current group to get out to only be replaced by another full house for the 3PM service.  Of course I felt a bit awkward being immersed in a room full of people with beliefs not aligned with mine but it was a very positive feeling regardless.  I bowed my head and stood when asked and just kept quiet.  Cindy really appreciated me being there which is what mattered the most.

Elsa gave me an unexpected Christmas “gift” that night.  I had brought my wheel out to the kitchen earlier in anticipation of loading it up for our Christmas Eve ride.  Evidently Elsa thought it would be fun to take a bite out of one of the leg supports at some point while the wheel was sitting out there.  Of course I was a bit upset about it but she is so cute it is hard to stay mad long.  Cindy and I are learning that there are very few things Elsa will not try to eat.

So we headed to Victoria Park for a Christmas Eve ride, me on my Gotway EUC and Cindy on her Minipro.  We knew it would be crazy busy but that was part of the appeal for me.  There was a long line of cars waiting to enter the development as we approached.  The front yards of a ton of houses had people camped out just enjoying the sights and sounds.

We did our best to add to the fun.  We had a ton of people comment and ask about what we were riding.  We stopped at one house where Cindy let a few kids try out the MiniPro.  The one parent whispered to me that he actually bought his kids one for Christmas which surely was an awesome surprise for them based on how much they seemed to like riding it. We took a short break during the ride to enjoy some hot chocolate as well which was very good.  I really enjoyed spending my Christmas Eve that way, hopefully it becomes a psuedo-tradition.

Christmas morning we woke up later than normal.  I don’t think I rolled out of bed until 7:30.  We didn’t rush right into present ripping either.  We let the chickens out, fed Elsa and Cindy made us some coffee to help burn off the cobwebs.

Once again we had a lot of presents under the tree, something both of us tell the other is not necessary but it continues to be that way anyway.  We took turns opening up stuff.  Cindy got me a lot of cute and thoughtful gifts.  My “big” gift won’t actually arrive until February, a new DJI Mavic drone.  In addition we were also opening presents from my family, adding to the already large pile.

This was Elsa’s first Christmas and she seemed to enjoy the scene.  We gave her a fresh antler as her first present.  It was hilarious watching her take it between the office and great room repeatedly while she decided which was a better chewing spot.  In addition she got some dog toys which she seemed to enjoy greatly as well.

I got Cindy two big gifts peppered with a number of smaller ones.  One she had already sort of guessed based on the size and weight of the box and she was not exactly thrilled by it.  Yes I bought her a new electric unicycle, a Gotway MCM 4.

Cindy had said she was willing to try to learn to ride again a few weeks prior so I thought I would give her a solid option to ride once she learns on the cheap and slow training wheel.  Cindy felt guilty I spent the money on another wheel and said it made her feel pressure to learn to ride.  I told her that even if she never learned I would still use it so it’s no big deal.

Cindy was more enthusiastic about her other big gift, an Apple Watch 2.0.  She did  not expect that one and was very excited about some of the stuff it could do, a lot of which will be beneficial to her fitness instructor gig.

After present opening we had to get very busy.  Cindy had a large meal to prepare and we also worked on getting the house more in order to host guests.  Katie and her boyfriend showed up mid-afternoon. I finally was able to give her the electric unicycle I had been wanting to give her for the last month.  She LOVED the Inmotion V5F and was extremely excited to try it out.  The three of us did just that, riding around a quiet side street for several miles before the food was ready.  Katie had no problem adapting to the new wheel and said she loved the way it felt.  It made me happy to see her happy. Kaite got me some cool presents too, including a custom EUC Army baseball hat which was very thoughtful.

Cindy’s brother, his fiance, and his two kids showed up around 4PM.  We peppered in eating lots of good food, drinking, and watching Elf with hanging in the back yard.  I set up the slackline for people to try out and the chickens provided additional entertainment.  By the time everyone left Cindy and I were pooped.  Cindy handled the lions share of the food clean up duties which was very nice.  It was quite the busy Christmas Day.

I started Monday with my long run since I missed it on Christmas Day.  It felt absolutely necessary to run to help counteract some of the gluttony the day before.  The run felt tough and my right knee hurt some from a fall I took off the slackline.  I still hung at a 9:05 pace which is only single digits off my best for 2016.

Since I got Monday off as well as Katie and Daniel we thought we would put it to good use.  Katie, Daniel and I went to the Greenway so Katie could ride her new wheel.  We made arrangements for Cindy to meet us there after she was done teaching a class.  We did a long ride, the farthest Katie has ever done, just short of 9 miles.  She loved every minute of it.

After we finished up riding we stopped at Panera for lunch.  When we got home I told Daniel I was giving him my old  Ninebot One electric unicycle.  I told him since we now had the wheel I bought for Cindy I have a spare if needed.  I figured if both Katie and Daniel had wheels they could ride whenever they wanted, not just once a week with us.

Daniel was very appreciative of my offer and was excited to have his own wheel full time.  I have no doubt he will quickly surpass me in skill level if he hasn’t already.  It made my heart warm when we got reports that once they got home they were riding the wheels almost non-stop, only taking quick charge breaks.  Katie put something around another 14 miles on her wheel, during the afternoon/evening.  I think she is officially hooked.

On Monday afternoon we did stuff around the house mostly.  Cindy got to finally dig in to her Apple Watch and seems absolutely thrilled with what it can do.  It is definitely a cool piece of tech and much more than just an extension of the phone. I took my Msuper into the backyard and rode around for maybe 20 minutes as I shot a video.  I always wanted to see how rideable our backyard is.  The answer was, sort of.

Monday night we watched the Blu-ray version of the Warcraft movie that I got for my birthday from my step mom.  It was cool watching it at home where I could make some more sense of certain scenes I may have missed in the theater.

During the night Cindy seemed to be actually getting more excited about her new unicycle.  She tracked down an app that not only connects to the phone but also works on her Apple watch.  Maybe seeing just how much fun Katie is having on her new wheel opened Cindy’s door to learning a little wider.  As I have said multiple times, I have no doubt Cindy could eventually match or surpass my riding ability with some perseverance.   She has very good natural hand eye coordination and balance.

It was sort of a draining four days but overall it was much more positive than negative.  Hopefully it will be the kick start to a happy and healthy 2017.