Christmas joy and other miscellany

Ah....I pause here, in a moment of relaxation in the midst of holiday chaos, to catch my breath, and to say that I hope everyone had a Christmas as awesome as mine. It had its "ugh" moments, of course, but seriously, what holiday doesn't? Overall, it was quite grand. And now for the Reader's Digest condensed version....

Went to church twice on Christmas Eve. It wasn't too bad though, except for the PC alterations to classic hymns. These new hymnals* have removed practically every mention of "sons," "man," "his," and even "Father." wtf mate? Hark the Herald Angels Sing---born to raise us from the earth/born to give us second birth? I think not. It's the sons of earth, bitches. It's not chauvinism, it's the way the song goes. Gah!

That and the blue-haired old ladies pinching my cheeks and commenting how tall I'd gotten and how I look exactly like my mother. Looks like somebody needs a stronger prescription.....

Moving on....

Christmas day, Dad and I did some Santa-playing, which was quite fun. See, my cousin Dylan, who's always around playing with Michael, mentioned a few weeks ago that their family wasn't having Christmas this year, didn't have a tree, weren't getting any presents, and all the rest, because they didn't have any money. I have no evidence of the veracity of these claims, but I wouldn't be too surprised.

So anyway, Dad and I went out last week and bought a present for each of the three kids, wrapped and labeled each one "To: [kid's name] From: Santa," and put 'em in a grocery bag. Then on Christmas morning, we drove over to their house and Dad parked around the corner while I put the bag on the porch, rang the doorbell, and got outta Dodge. We think they might've seen the car as we drove off, but we're not sure. At any rate, it was fun playing elf.

Yesterday was our big family get-together at Mom's, with lots of fun and game-playing. I got my ass handed to me at Texas Hold 'em, made 15 cents playing Nickels, and then we had a very long, very rowdy game of Apples to Apples, and a couple rounds of Taboo. Grand.

Presents-wise, this was the year of clothing. I got a duster-type sweater, six shirts, two sets of PJs, and seven pairs of socks. The sweater kicks ass, and the shirts are all very nice (and needed; I previously had exactly two long-sleeved shirts that weren't hoodies), and the socks are all very fun. Neither set of PJs fit though, which made me sad. One was a set of footie PJs (you know, like toddlers wear, that zip all the way up the front) and I totally would've worn them at college, but they were juniors size instead of regular, and were too small.

Other highlights of my presents: four new CDs, a page-a-day Far Side calendar, and a copy of America: The Book. Le awesome.

And I now find myself cleaning up and eagerly awaiting Friday and The Party! Hope to see some of you there! And on that note, I'm thinking the 9-11 skating time, because Holly wants to come and she has to work in Fort Wayne until seven. Okay?

And now, to round things out, a couple excellent non-sequiturs.

Best ever out-of-context quote:

Be mindful that showers are slippery, cars aren't always roomy, and sex in a bathroom stall usually ends up with someone's shoe in the toilet.

It's from a site about writing fanfic smut. I don't write fanfic, let alone fanfic smut. Don't ask me why I read these things; you should already know I have no life.

I also found the best website in the entire world, and it is located here. Yes, that merited a new link on my bookmark bar.


_{*Okay so they've had these hymnals for at least six years now, but for at least five of those years, I haven't gone to that church regularly. So they're new to me.}