Christmas Day

Wow, what day!

It started when the kids got up at the crack of Damn It's Early! and just kept going and going. I'm not complaining (well, okay maybe little) because despite the long hours, I think it was probably the best Xmas we've had in a long time.

The kids enjoyed their presents, and everybody enjoyed themselves, and had fun hanging out together. The boys were patient with me, since it took a while for me to get some of their stuff put together, powered up, etc. Especially the freakin' trampoline, but after a couple of hours of assembly, I got the thing put together.

The big surprise for me today was a gift from Karen and the boys. Normally, Karen and I don't get each other anything, but this year, she bought me an iPad and they gave it to me as a reward for my efforts to lose weight and get healthier, and to encourage me to accomplish even more in the coming year. How fucking awesome is that?

So after spending the morning inserting and rearranging batteries, applying stickers, installing software, finding lost pieces, screwing, bolting, tightening, hooking, unhooking, rebooking, and whatever else it took to get the boys' presents ready for them to enjoy AND cooking the turkey on at BBQ, and eating lunch, finally around 3:00 I finally got to play with my new toy.

And I like it. A lot.

And one of the reasons I like it is because I'm typing this post on it. Couldn't do that with the iPod. A short post, sure. But I wouldn't have wanted to type full-length posts on the thing. With this, though, it's almost as easy as a laptop, and much easier to carry around.

In addition to playing with the new gadget, I also enjoyed a few beers early in the afternoon (and a few before noon, which is a rare indulgence)' and I gotta say, I really enjoyed the new radler-style beers I bought the other day. They're based on the German radler, which is a drink that is half beer and half lemon soda. Here in Australia, you can order it in a pub as a "shandy". But these bottled radler-style beers are full strength (5%), with a bit of lemon added. Very refreshing on a hot day like today!

Unfortunately, I'd only bought a six-pack. So it's a good thing Bill and Anne slipped a couple of bottles of Maker's Mark under the tree this year. Even though some clouds had rolled in and it wasn't quite as hot as it was earlier in the day, a few bourbon and Cokes didn't go astray.

Then it was leftover turkey and salads for dinner, followed by dessert that involved a delicious mini-cheesecake, a caramel slice, and some chocolate balls made out of crushed Oreos and cream cheese, covered in more chocolate. I think maybe I was supposed to choose one from the three on offer. Oops! They were all damned good.

After dinner, Tom went to bed (totally exhausted after hours of jumping on the trampoline), and the boys took turns playing Xbox (I didn't realize it only comes with one controller, but it turns out the games they wanted were all one-player games anyway. WTF?

And now they're both in bed, Karen is in bed, and I'm the only fool who hasn't had a shower and hit the sheets. But I will remedy that situation about two minutes after I hit "publish".

Merry Xmas and happy holidays!