Christmas

So after our whirlwind Vegas trip we came back home just in time to throw together preparations for Christmas.  On Saturday we spent most of the day getting stuff put away and cleaned up from the trip.  Saturday was also Ali’s birthday.  We had agreed ahead of time that Vegas was our present to each other so all we did was exchange cards.  However the least I could do was cater to Ali.  I asked her what she wanted for her birthday meal, I was willing to make something for her if she wanted.  Instead she came back with a very simple request, pizza.  I also picked up some Publix cupcakes for her she requested instead of a full blown cake.  So I went to the grocery store in the morning and then handled most of the stuff around the house while Ali did whatever she felt like doing.  It was her birthday after all. 

We spent Saturday night eating pizza, ironically as we watched the Biggest Loser finale.  There were some incredible transformations with the winner losing over 50% of their initial body weight.  In fact there were three people that lost over 50%.  There was a pair of twins on the show.  The one twin was the winner, netting 250k.  Ironically his twin brother who was kicked off the show early won the non-finalist prize of 100k.  He actually lost slightly more weight than his brother.  3 of the four finalists transformations were very dramatic, the 4th one, not so much.  Hopefully they have the discipline to make their lifestyle stick during the daily grind of life, good luck to them.

Saturday night I had to console Ali.  Nobody from her family had called to wish her a happy birthday.  In fact the only person that Ali talked to was my sister.  It’s tough having a birthday smack up against Christmas.  Many people have so much going on it just gets lost in the shuffle. It still didn’t excuse her family from not calling though. I felt bad for her.

On Sunday Ali decided to go to work.  I had a whirlwind of cleaning planned for the morning before the Eagles-Saints game.  I could tell the carpets were dirty, you can just feel it on your bare feet.  So after sweeping the house I fired up the steam cleaner and went to work.  Wow the carpets were as dirty as I can ever remember.  Every load of water I dumped was absolutely cruddy.  It takes a long time to do but every time I steam clean I wonder why I don’t do it more often.  The rug looks so much better when I’m done.  I also let the Scooba go to work in the kitchen while I cleaned up the guest bedroom and bathroom for mom’s arrival. Surprisingly mom agreed to come out to our place Sunday afternoon. Ali picked her up on the way home from work.

During the afternoon I half watched the Eagles-Saints game, half worked on my computer.  The game didn’t hold much interest for me since the Birds are eliminated from the playoffs.  However they put in a real strong effort, dominating the Saints in New Orleans, avenging their playoff loss and also eliminating the Saints from the playoffs this year, pretty sweet.  Donovan played well and showed some flashes of his former self including a long run on the first possession of the game.  I guess the one good thing about being eliminated from the playoffs is you get the opportunity to end the season on a winning note.

So mom and Ali arrive and the car is packed with stuff mom brought including her suitcase and several very large wrapped gifts.  It looked to me like mom had brought us way too many things.  Every year I tell her she doesn’t need to buy us anything really, I’m old now.  Mom also brought food, including  a London Broil that she had marinating for a day which we had for dinner.  Later we decided to pile in the car and drive around and look at Christmas lights, something I used to do in PA but abandoned since moving to Florida.  First we drove up and down our road.  We soon discovered that most of our neighbors weren’t all that festive as the majority of the houses had no lights outside.  I suppose since it is a dead end street they figure that not many people see it anyway.  So we decided to drive a couple miles down the road to one of the developments and cruise through there.  That was more like it.  Almost every house had some sort of decorations.  It was interesting comparing the homes.  You could tell the people that went the quick and dirty route of just hanging some icicle lights on the front of the house from the ones that really put time into their decorations, incorporating various colors and   shapes into their landscape.  I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.  I think mom tired of it.

So on Monday, Christmas Eve, Ali once again went into work so that left mom and I at home all day.  The weather was beautiful with temps in the mid- 70’s.  I didn’t crank the pool heater this Christmas, mom told me ahead of time she wasn’t that into getting wet this time around.  So mom and I had a relaxing day.  We took Nicki over to another development for a walk.  Even though the temps were not bad, the sun felt much warmer, especially on my dark colored t-shirt.  It wasn’t too far into the walk before mom hinted she was ready to head back.  I asked her if she was tired, she said that it was more because she was hot.  It was just as well, Nicki was quite warm as well and I had forgotten to bring water and a cup for her.

The rest of the day was very low key.  I played a bunch of WoW while mom sat out on the lanai and read her book.  In the past I would have felt guilty about playing WoW when mom was around because I felt like mom would be offended.  But she made it clear she didn’t mind and was content to just sit out in the sun.  

So Ali comes home and starts on preparation for a very untypical Christmas Eve meal, vegetable lasagna.   it was premade and just had to be heated up.  We also had salad and garlic bread, another carb stuffed meal, ugh.  Just like the night before, we ate out on the lanai and enjoyed the cool night air.  We watched Elf afterwards to help boost the xmas spirit.  It didn’t really work for me.  We headed off to bed.

Unlike Christmas past, I have no issue falling asleep Christmas Eve and I sleep right through the night just like it is any other night.  The nights of waking up at 3 or 4am wide awake with anticipation and excitement are long dead.  So I wake up Christmas morning about 6:30 and get up.  Mom wakes up shortly afterward.  I drink the coffee mom makes and play some WoW until Ali gets up maybe an hour later.

My job this year was the primary gift distributor.  I pulled down the stockings and handed out the gifts to everyone at a measured pace.  Ali and I decided to not open our birthday presents until Christmas since we were buying less for each other this year.  Even though it was supposed to be a slim Christmas, we seemed to have just as much to open as we ever have.  The stash was good.  Mom got a lot of gift cards to various places that she can have fun spending since shopping is her number one hobby.  I got Ali a little ballet shoe charm for her charm bracelet, some things she had on her Amazon wish list and the big gift, an Ipod Touch.  I got a bunch of stuff as well like an air compressor, air tools, Call of Duty 4, a Sling Box, a cool steel bearing clock, a portable Golden Tee golf game, a chain saw and much more.  We got a couple joint gifts like a picture from mom for the guest room and a fire pit for the lanai from our neighbors. 

Mom got me an odd gift that she had to explain to me before opening it as to why she got it.  She had read one of my blog entries about how my knees were hurting.  She just happened to see some infomercial about these miracle orthotics that were supposed to make everything line up and feel better so she got them for me.  I haven’t tried them yet.  I have no idea if they would help someone that has meniscus damage in their knees but it’s worth a shot I guess.

So after the present carnage the dining room was filled with Christmas road kill.  Boxes, paper and opened presents were piled up everywhere.  Well it was time for mom to make her traditional Christmas meal of french toast.  Again we enjoyed it out on the lanai.  Afterwards the time leading up to taking mom home about 2 was just filled with non-stop activity that alternated between cleaning up and playing with stuff.   I took turns playing with or setting up my various things.  Ironically the thing I probably spent the most time with was the gift I got for Ali, her Ipod Touch.  That thing is cool.  By days end I had all of her songs on it as well as having it connected to our wireless network.  The Safari browser on it is so much better than what we have on either of our Treos.  I love the way it flips between landscape and portrait.  I played a few games of Golden Tee, configured my SlingBox and hung the picture mom got us among many other things. 

I took mom back home, Nicki tagged along for the ride like she normally does.  We threw a bunch of our recycling in the car to dump in mom’s can since we had more than enough for our own already.  I hugged mom goodbye and thanked her for everything.

When I got home I saw that Ali had gotten a lot of stuff cleaned up which I appreciated.  I played with more stuff and then settled down to watch I Am Legend on Christmas night.  It was weird it almost felt like Christmas came, happened and was already filed away as ancient history in my mind.  Anyway, back to the movie.  Warning this may be a bit of a spoiler for some.  I Am Legend was a good movie although it very closely follows the plot of the 28 day / 28 weeks later flicks.  I found the movie entertaining, scary and well done.  However to me it has a major fatal flaw.  You never have the dog die, never….. The dog is a central, lovable part of the movie, what happens to it made me incredibly sad and disturbed.  So much so that it distracted me during the rest of the movie.  That was a major f up in my eyes.  The dog NEVER dies.  That flaw makes me give it B.  Otherwise it could have easily been an A.  Will Smith does a good job in this one.

So Christmas was in the bag.  It came without much fanfare and left with even less.  I am pretty much convinced that unless children are involved in the festivities, it is pretty much impossible to have a Christmas that feels quite right.  Mom tried to call Grandma during the morning and got no answer.  She didn’t try to call back again as she said grandma would be eating lunch.  Unlike last year I didn’t take it upon myself to call again later Christmas night.  My phone experience with her at Thanksgiving really makes me hesitant to go at it again alone.  If mom initiates it maybe there is a slim chance grandma will know who I am.  My last call with her was like talking to a stranger, on both ends of the phone. It’s so depressing.