December 28, 2006

• Tis the Season

  Yet another awesome Christmas.  The oldest J and his better half were with us for 5 days and having a house full of family was good.  We started the Holiday with a dinner at our house with the 6 Lowrys and 4 Hortons.  I grilled 16 of the Livestock and Rodeo steaks over charcoal and Bob brought his famous mushrooms.  Cyndie prepared 2 big dishes of fresh asparagus which made for a fun time long after the meal.  We have been eating on the left over steak all week long.
  
  Bob and I went over to my former boss’s house on Saturday and picked up a washer, dryer and freezer that he no longer needed.  After fixing my washer and dryer the weekend before, it was all I could do to remove them from the laundry room and replace them with the top of the line Maytag set that I was given.  The new to me set is around a year old and were being discarded because of the perception that the delicate cycle was not delicate enough.  If that is so, us poor folks can wash them by hand.  Now I have the chore of finding a recipient for my slightly used washer and dryer that have $200 worth of new parts that I installed the weekend before.  Bob graciously took the freezer for his garage and then we headed back down to the Sears parts store.  The antique double oven at Bob’s bit the dust on Thursday so we were on a quest to find replacement heating element.  We struck out a Sears but the lady directed us to another store and bingo, we hit paydirt.  The new element worked fine so their worries about how to cook Christmas dinner were over.  Not so much a worry because they were going to use our oven if we could not find an element but there is something about having to carry everything back and forth that takes the fun out of cooking.
  
  After another day of moving and fixing stuff, we took the Hortons to a Rocket’s game Saturday night and got to see Yao hit the floor and not get up.  It was Bob and Connie’s first visit to the Toyota Center. We really spoiled them with the priority parking passes and suite tickets we received from the same former boss mentioned above.  The Rockets lost and I don’t know the outcome of the injury that was inflicted on Yao.  I noticed a blurb on the front page of the Chronicle with his face in it but I don’t read the sports section so the suspense must go on.  I could have reached down and picked up the sports section to update on this injury for this blog but my interest in these matters ceases when I exit the sports arena.  I am doing good to know that they make a goal in basketball and a touchdown in soccer .
  
  Sunday was our second to last service in our church building.  Since we did not have any classes, I headed home after first service and threw together a meal so we could head out to the inlaws house when Cyndie got home.  I diced up some of the left over steak and scrambled it up with some eggs.  Bob gave me the idea on Saturday and I had a great, simple lunch two days in a row.  We headed up to the sister-in-laws house after feasting on this simple but fabulous meal.
  
  I made sure the boys took the Wii.  It was funny to be making them pack it up and take it with us.  There have been many times when they wanted to take their playstation or X-box and we have not allowed it.  Wii is different.  We did not let it dominate our visit with the traditional Christmas Eve celebration with Cyndie’s family.  Counting the Alred clan which included a son-in-law and girl friend-in-law, the Kuses and us which included a daughter-in-law, there were 15 of us eating tamales and opening presents.  Before we began the festivities, we did something that really made the day.  My brother-in-law, Ed, approached me with an idea to have each family member say something memorable about AC and Nan.  He gave his clan a heads up and I gave my boys the same.  He wanted me to lead the conversation and that meant that I could go last.
  
  Before we started gorging ourselves, we gathered in a circle in the living room as we have in the past for a prayer.  I then told everyone our intentions and let my youngest start the blessing chain as I will now call it.  He did a magnificent job of setting the tone and everyone else followed with the same.  There were some happy tears shed and we began a tradition that will be a welcome part of our future holiday gatherings.
  
  Christmas day was spent at my step-dad’s house with all of my family.  My niece and nephew who are 5 and 4 made the holiday complete.  Christmas is not Christmas without children.  We had a great meal and fellowship with the 20 people that showed up.  Our brother John did not come because he “had a hangover”.  We did not let his absence put a damper on our fun.  The day was not complete without a couple of games of Skipbo.  We got home that evening early enough that I actually had the energy to replace the ice maker on our refrigerator.  I returned the part that I had ordered the previous weekend and bought a new one when Bob and I were at Sears on Saturday.  The old one had been leaking water into the ice tray and chipping this huge block of ice out was the most time consuming part of the task.  Once that was out of the way, the actual replacement took all of 5 minutes from start to finish.
  
  I took my last vacation day of the year on Monday and we did not let the grass grow under our feet.  I had the oil changed in my truck and bought groceries before the boys were out of bed.  Cyndie and I took Jacob to see The Good Shepard early in the afternoon.  It was a good but slow movie.  Good thing it was Early afternoon.  Cyndie said that she only fell asleep a few times.
  
  The evening was topped out with me spending time at Cyndie’s computer attempting to remove a virus to no avail.  Two hours of my life down the drain.  I spent three hours on it last night reloading the operating system and installing updates.  I figure that I will only have to spend another couple of hours installing other vital programs before she can use it.  When it is done, there will only be one administrator account that is owned by me and the only other profile will be hers.  There will not be any use of this machine by any offspring or spouses of offspring or friends of offspring or any other human being going forward forever and ever AMEN.
  
  Did my frustration show in that last sentence?
  
  Anywhoo, that was the first half of the holidays.  Actually that was the Christmas part of the holiday season.  In my political correctness I found myself having to force out “have a merry Christmas” when at church last Sunday.  Whoever says we are not influenced by the agenda to take Christ out of Christmas is not feeling the temperature of the water in the pot rise.

  • 9:45 am
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