DLand - Merry Christmas!

We had one of the best Christmas dinners last night at the house of Sweetpea. There was duck l'orange (pronounced with the snooty French accent) and oyster stuffing. We wrapped gifts and then immediately took them downstairs to tear them open. It was grand. They are some of the best family I could have lucked out to gain in a marriage. My mother called me today at 1:00 pm to ask why we had to leave and were messing up her Christmas. I suppose it was my family's turn to be aliens during the holidays.

But my sweet and I had a fabulous Christmas and I hope that all of you are having the same. I love you all.

DLand - What I'm NOT Going to Talk About

So, I'm not going to talk about my father's computer. I'm not going to talk about how he installed and uninstalled the same program so many times that the whole machine broke down. I'm not going to talk about how I tried everything in my power to get them back and connected to the world, while constantly listening about how he never gets any help and he's all alone and drowning without any computer help. I'm not going to talk about how I spent $992.74 to get him a new computer while he puttered with his really old one only to have him say he doesn't like it and want me to take it back. These are all the things I'm not going to talk about because it would just irritate me. So Wednesday night I gave Sweetpea one of his Christmas presents. I let him stay at home in his sweatpants and watch television while I braved traffic and other holiday shoppers to pick up some more of our last minute presents. I let him eat leftover chinese food (damn you, Rich) while I went out for pho. So he got a little present of being a slug while I went out for the both of us.

I have become addicted to pho. I should get those patches like they have for smokers to put on my arm only with cilantro instead of nicotine in them. Any given night if you ask me what I could eat for dinner, I'll happily answer pho. The Vietnamese dudes know me by name there. My main problem has been that for like two weeks I haven't had much appetite. Don't know if it was work or the computer that we're not talking about or the weather or what. But I would eat almost nothing. So the fact that pho appealed to me was a miracle in itself.

The greatest thing about Pho '79 where I get my fix is that it's across the street from Krispy Kreme. What follows up Vietnamese noodle soup and peanut sauce better than a hot glazed donut and a pint of milk? Nothing, I tell you. Absolutely nothing.

DLand - And What Do You Want, Little Girl?

Mary: \"What does Genie want for Christmas?\" Sweetpea: \"Hmm ... sex toys?\"

Mary: \"No, I didn't ask what you wanted for Christmas. I asked what Genie wanted.\"

Sweetpea: \"Oh, well, you'll have to ask her.\"

Christmas shopping this year has been pretty productive so far. There are still some tough folks on the list this year that we haven't found the perfect thing for, but that will all come in due time.

Sweetpea and I filled the trunk on Sunday with toys for everyone. This is the year of toys. No, I can't tell you what they all are, silly, or it might spoil it. Just stop asking.

My aunt Sissy and parents came over for dinner on Sunday. Well, they brought dinner with them. We just had to provide the table and plates and drinks. A pretty good deal all around. We worked on some computer stuff for Daddy again (or rather still) and I showed them the Christmas tape I found. I believe I have the technology to get it on my computer, now just have to find the time.

The topic of holiday traditions came up while we listened. I always thought we had it pretty good at our house, but every family does it differently. My parents would pick out a particular wrapping paper for each child (there are three of us) and would wrap everything for that child in their wrapping paper. When Jeremy joined the family he got his own paper too. Now that we're grownups we can sometimes pick out our own paper (I like to wrap presents so I get the inside scoop). But everything down to the dental floss, chap stick, and post it notes we got was wrapped. It made a very impressive display.

The odd thing is that we never exchanged gifts. We never got my parents gifts and they never got us gifts. It all came from Santy Claus (and no that wasn't a typo). Somehow as a child this all made perfect sense. We would still pick out gifts for our extended family and exchange those, but that somehow was different. I suppose our tradition of not celebrating birthdays carried over. I know that makes my family sound like some looney cult who says Santa hunted, shot and ate the Easter Bunny but I suppose we just celebrated in not so organized ways.

It must have been strange for my brothers too. I am the baby of the family with Perry and Doug being six and a half and 18 years older than I, respectively. So when I was 4 years old getting a Baby Seaweed, Perry at 11 was complaining about me being in his territory while racing his Porche remote controlled car and my Doug at 22 was getting gift certificates from Santa for new glasses (that never phased me as a kid either apparently). They had to keep Santa alive for a really long time. I suppose that's why we still keep Santa around for us. My mother still fills our stockings with chapstick and gum. And we still get our own wrapping paper.

There were other oddities like the evolution of the Christmas Eve hunt for the Christmas tree (they're much cheaper that day too). And occasionally Santa would drop something in the fireplace on his way in (when my parents couldn't get the perfect gift in time). My co-worker's dad said that Santa would bring the Christmas tree when he brought the presents as well at his house. That seemed a little over the top to me, but hey, more power to them. Does your family have any strange or really neat holiday traditions?