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Holiday recap
posted Wednesday, 27 December 2006
Well, the Christmas season is pretty well over around here. On Christmas eve, I accompanied my mother to church in the morning, where I sang in the choir. It's a small choir, so adding a couple voices at the holidays really makes a difference and they were glad to have me. As I've gotten used to singing in a pretty good choir, it gets harder and harder to go back, but all in all it was fine. There's something comforting about coming back to a place you know so well, to singing Christmas carols you know so well. We went to the morning service on Christmas Eve rather than the much-cooler candlelit evening service at 7 o'clock because my beloved-but-rather-hapless Bengals were playing a 4:30 game that most-assuredly would not be concluded in time. If you didn't catch it, I'll summarize for you: they played like crap all game, but did have a monster drive as the game wound to a close to tie the game and send it to overtime. That is, they would have sent it to overtime if a bad snap hadn't ruined the extra point attempt and left them down by a point. Heartbreaking end to the game and probably to the season--there's one more to play, but the team's virtually eliminated from the playoffs. Good thing I'm not a truly fanatical fan or I'd be pretty bummed right now--and it would have ruined Christmas.
As it was, Christmas was nice enough. I got a bunch of board games that I wanted, including several that I've reviewed here. I got another game that I had heard recommended, which I will review after more extensive gameplay-testing: Ticket to Ride. So far, so good with two players. I also got a big old wooden umbrella stand / coat rack, and some clothing. We had lunch of Christmas day with some friends of the family--good enough friends that they understood when we ate and ran to go spend the rest of the day with my girlfriend's family. We had a nice time there and I was inducted into a family tradition: when they order a gift too late, they wrap up a picture of what you will be getting eventually. I got a replica football jersey for my favorite player on my favorite team, but when they miss the playoffs after this weekend, I won't really have much of a chance to wear it for 9 months or so. Oh well. We spent the afternoon eating, talking, and playing some of the board games that I got for Christmas. It was a nice way to spend the day.
On the day after Christmas, we had a second Christmas with my aunt & uncle and their family down to their great-grandchildren. My aunt and uncle moved into a really nice assisted-living facility in the last year (I blogged about it at some point, but I'm too lazy to look up the link), and the nursing home catered the meal and gave us a big room to ourselves. The food was really good--moist turkey, stuffing that I think was made from rice, and sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top (plus desserts). My uncle really looks like the years are catching up with him--he didn't talk much at all or really seem to be able to follow conversations very well, but he played euchre with us and was able to keep up with the game just fine, so that was a positive sign. It was nice to see so many of my cousins. I got to catch up with several of them and just generally had a nice time.
Today I spent a lot of time working on school work; I'll do some more tomorrow and then slowly start making my way back to the east coast from Friday on. It will be a very gradual process, actually, but I should arrive sometime before school starts up again (which will be here in no time!). Happy holidays everyone!
As it was, Christmas was nice enough. I got a bunch of board games that I wanted, including several that I've reviewed here. I got another game that I had heard recommended, which I will review after more extensive gameplay-testing: Ticket to Ride. So far, so good with two players. I also got a big old wooden umbrella stand / coat rack, and some clothing. We had lunch of Christmas day with some friends of the family--good enough friends that they understood when we ate and ran to go spend the rest of the day with my girlfriend's family. We had a nice time there and I was inducted into a family tradition: when they order a gift too late, they wrap up a picture of what you will be getting eventually. I got a replica football jersey for my favorite player on my favorite team, but when they miss the playoffs after this weekend, I won't really have much of a chance to wear it for 9 months or so. Oh well. We spent the afternoon eating, talking, and playing some of the board games that I got for Christmas. It was a nice way to spend the day.
On the day after Christmas, we had a second Christmas with my aunt & uncle and their family down to their great-grandchildren. My aunt and uncle moved into a really nice assisted-living facility in the last year (I blogged about it at some point, but I'm too lazy to look up the link), and the nursing home catered the meal and gave us a big room to ourselves. The food was really good--moist turkey, stuffing that I think was made from rice, and sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top (plus desserts). My uncle really looks like the years are catching up with him--he didn't talk much at all or really seem to be able to follow conversations very well, but he played euchre with us and was able to keep up with the game just fine, so that was a positive sign. It was nice to see so many of my cousins. I got to catch up with several of them and just generally had a nice time.
Today I spent a lot of time working on school work; I'll do some more tomorrow and then slowly start making my way back to the east coast from Friday on. It will be a very gradual process, actually, but I should arrive sometime before school starts up again (which will be here in no time!). Happy holidays everyone!
Your comments, as always, are most welcome. (7)