POST-CHRISTMAS PICS AND THOUGHTS

So this is Christmas.

And just what the hell have YOU done??

Yeah, right. So anyway...Day four of my six day "vacation" if you count the weekend.

Andrew was pretty excited about Santa's visit. I didn't get the ear-piercing squeals that I was hoping for, but the kid had just woken up and he's not the most cordial kid when he wakes up.

It was kinda amusing because he saw this Little Tykes ummmm...it's not exactly a race set. It's ... well....here....

It's one of those things. Anyway, he sees that and he wants to play with that. If you look closely, you can see the gray playhouse to his left...he hadn't even NOTICED that at this point. Finally, I had to get up and BANG on the roof of the playhouse to get him to notice it.

He grinned and jumped up and ran in there and began running in and out of it and looking out the windows, etc.

I had the hardest time catching an actual smile on camera. He was a whirlwind in there...running all around.

This is the closest thing I got to an actual smile...

All in all, it was a good Christmas. Susie bought me the freakin' house which is keeping me warm this morning and I bought her ... hmmmm....the "Rudy" DVD.

Well...I mean...she got the house too. It's not all mine. But we figured that this year, Christmas would be centered around the boy and less about us.

Still, I got three DVDs, some cologne, about a dozen picture frames and an upset stomach from one too many eggnogs.

Speaking of DVDs ... the almighty Flippie is the latest angel in my eyes, having picked out the Prince "Rave Until The Year 2000" live DVD for me and sending it to me. I received it about a week ago and completely forgot to give the gal mad props for it.

Danke Schoen, Flipper. I put that baby in, cranked it up and partied like it was 1999 all over again.

Well ... no I didn't. I was a dope-smokin' fool in 1999. And seeing as how the kid has cut into my dope-smoking habits, I partied like it was 2002 and I had a whiny little boy on my lap, begging Daddy to turn down the surround sound so his eardrums wouldn't burst.

But I think you get the idea.

My sister came and spent a few days with us this week.

It's getting to the point where she and Susie hang out more than I get to hang out with her. Which is cool ... I'm glad they get along so well.

She bought us a new Toaster Oven for Christmas which is so unlike her, because she's constantly saying how she has "no money" and we usually get something kinda ...well...lame from her.

Which is fine. I don't neeeeeed a present from my sister. I just like her company and having her around during the holidays. That's enough for me.

But I think she felt a little bad about being a last-minute addition to our holiday season. She was holding out hope that her loser boyfriend from the last five years would FINALLY ask her to spend Christmas with HIS family ... but... as usual ... he didn't.

So she broke up with him yet again.

This guy is a real piece of work. He and his family all live in the same city along with my sister. My sister has to travel at least three hours to be with family. Yet every holiday, he goes to his parents' house to celebrate the holidays with them and doesn't invite my sister.

She's never had a Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas morning with her boyfriend's family, even though they live less than ten minutes away from her. Because he won't invite her.

At Thanksgiving, she called him from here and asked how everything was going and said POINT BLANK "I hope this is the last holiday we have to spend away from each other."

They're both in their 30s. He's scared of making the big commitment to her and she's pressuring him to just go ahead and do it.

She "jokingly" asked him if he had planned on buying her an engagement ring for Christmas and he gave her the always popular answer "Uhhhh...no."

So she told him (yet again) that she's tired of wasting her time on him and how she wants to get married and have children and have a life, while he's more interested in whatever the hell the loser's interested in.

I didn't badmouth the guy the entire time she was here. Because the last time they "broke up" (last summer), I proceeded to tell my sister what a loser the guy was and how he would never make a commitment to her and never marry her and all that crap and she agreed.

...Then a few days later they were back together.

I've always had that kinda luck. Where a friend or family member breaks up with someone and I chime in with my thoughts on what a jerk that person is/was ... only to have the friend or family member get back together with said jerk and I have to change my tune to "Oh....they're not REALLY all that bad..."

Yeah, right.

Anyway ... it was nice having her here. We went to Christmas Eve service, then went to this house in town that's legendary for having the absolute tackiest Christmas decorations in their yard. They've got hundreds of cheap plastic statues crowded in their yard, cars drive by all night long and the brave folks get out of their cars and take a walking tour through mud and cheap discounted tacky crap.

Christmas was non-eventful. We watched Andrew open presents and then watched sad movies. "Philadelphia", "Sleepless in Seattle" (my all-time favorite chick flick) and "Rudy".

I grilled some ribeyes for dinner while Susie and my sister went for a long walk. Then I went on a quest for a newspaper with all the sales ads in it, but every single place I stopped at was sold out.

Yesterday, my sis and Susie got up and went after-Christmas shopping while I stayed home with the boy. We went to lunch, then my sis left for her house. Last night, we had a co-worker of Susie's come over with her adult daughter, son-in-law and three month-old grandbaby.

I didn't care for the son-in-law. He was a nice enough guy, but the kind that talks way too much and doesn't shut up. I used to be the same way ... acted like everyone gave a shit about what I was saying ... then I slowly realized that it pays to be quiet every now and then.

Anyway...for some unknown reason, this guy tells me he has a 46" television at home.

Okay.

And I needed to know this .... why??

After that, he just babbled hysterically for two hours while I tuned him out. Apparently, he works with children where he bores the shit out of them with every single detail about his life. I guess he probably takes it down to a loud whisper during naptime.

So they finally left and I went to bed.

Today, the wife had to work. She took Andrew to daycare and I've got the whole house to myself.

I do believe I'm going to go load up the DVD player with all my new DVDs from you lovely people and crank up the stereo to 11.

God rest ye merry gentlemen.

Rest ye asses off.