This year brought a blend of traditions new and old for me and my family. Last night, I joined my parents and my brother-in-law's parents at my sister and her husband's house for a fantastic dinner. This is their first year in the house and my sister's first Christmas Eve dinner, and she aced it. We watched "It's A Wonderful Life" and then went to midnight mass. I've been under the weather for the last week, so I gratefully collapsed into bed as soon as I got to my parents' house at 1:30 AM. They were kind enough to let me sleep in, so I roused myself at 9:30 for a home-cooked breakfast of turkey bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast. My folks and I exchanged gifts and prepared the house for dinner. The extended family trickled in between 3:00 and 5:00 for dinner. We totaled 17 people this year, and the house was loud and warm for several hours while all of our favorite Christmas movies played on DVD (A Christmas Story, Elf, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and A Muppet Christmas Carol). We wrapped up with a Secret Santa gift exchange, and everyone seemed quite pleased. I finally loaded up my car and got back home a little over an hour ago.
I made out really well. My big gift was a Keurig single-cup coffee and tea brewing machine, which is optimal for the lazy gentleman who's always in a rush before work. I also received a black Ray Rice Ravens jersey, a snazzy dark gray Orioles t-shirt, a Nintendo Wii Points card (which will be redeemed for downloadable Rock Band tracks), DVDs of Superbad and the third season of 30 Rock, a couple CDs (The Beatles' remastered "Help!" and Counting Crows' "This Desert Life"), and a couple baseball card-centric books: Cardboard Gods and Mint Condition. Oh, and there were four packs of 2010 Topps Update in my stocking, which filled a few set needs and provided me with two more Million Card Giveaway codes. I did as well as could be expected, receiving a 1968 Bill Henry and a 1981 Al Oliver when I redeemed them.
Now to finish unpacking and enjoy my plunder...
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteThat is a nice haul indeed. I also got the Cardboard Gods book, and I love it so far. I have been waiting for that book all year!
I also got a pair of Ravens shirts and some Ravens gloves (as well as a Ravens magnet, Ravens tissue box, and Ravens hand sanitizer - hmm, wonder what playoff bound team we like)!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Tim - Interestingly enough, I received your comment after dedicating yesterday's post to the Ravens. As nice as a first-round bye would be, I'm almost looking forward to an opportunity to go to Indy and to exorcise those Peyton Manning demons.
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