Yuletide

Oh hello. You caught me mid-blog. I'm just sitting on the blue microsuede plonking away on the macbook.

I hope that you and yours had a lovely holiday season. Mine was leisurely. My idiot brother Sean is back in town. Good to see that fella. Lots of snow, lots of cold, lots of ice. I guess it is winter and all. Funny, I've lived in this bowl of snow my entire life but winter still catches me off guard. But hey, makes for some cozy scenery.


Friday night I foolishly decided to go to the mall. It's been so long since I've malled. The crowds, the stores. I was overwhelmed. I felt like Tarzan in New York City. Naturally I didn't find what I was looking for, a consequence of waiting until the Friday before Christmas. I did see some cool mannequins though.

Later that night. Jazz game. Hot n' Ready. And then! Natonal Treasure: Book of Secrets! (the book of secrets is written by presidents, for presidents). I truly believe this is the "perfect" movie, somehow. I can't describe it. Half the people I saw it with were not amused. I loved it on an ironic level but also on a sincere level.

My favorite part. They (spoiler!) sneak into the Oval Office to (spoiler!) find a clue hidden in the President's (spoiler!) desk.


But the clue isn't th(spoiler!)ere. We find out later that Calvin Coolidge beat them to it. Thing is, the clue is really hard to find and involves opening drawers a certain precise way. So I imagine Silent Cal was just sitting there one day quietly messing around with his desk when he stumbled upon the clue. He probably remarked "..."



Saturday. Hmm. I think I slept most of the day. Eventually my family went to the cemetery to see the luminaries. A few years ago I helped set up the luminaries and that was a nice day for me.



Then, Jazz game, Hot n' Ready. The Jazz lost at the buzzer thanks to Dwyane Wade. What kind of a jerk has a strange Y in their first name? Oh speaking of Y, I also caught the end of the BYU/UCLA game. What an improbably ending to that one, am I right?

I then found myself at the Tap Room with a couple of my married (not to each other) lady friends.


There was this cool part where some jerk that looked like Blink-182 started hassling us and I stared him down and told him to "move along." I was pretty bad-ass. Last time I tried to defend a lady's honor it ended with me getting headbutted in the face by a Calgarian. This time the dude walked away eventually. Probably 'cause I've been working out.

Also I found fifteen bucks in the parking lot! Then back to my friends' house where I enjoyed their hospitality and a nice cheese platter.

Sunday night, dinner hosted by an old family friend. I am kicking myself, right this very moment, for not bringing my camera. The Christmas decorations were off the hook. Seven trees, seventeen nativity scenes, and ninety-six Santas. Wow.

Then I watched the movie Once. I really liked it. It's very Sundancey. If someone asked me what a Sundance movie was like I would show them Once.

Christmas Eve. Dinner with the extended family. Here's my idiot brother Mike helping himself to some dip.

A picture of you finally made the blog. You happy now, Michael?

Here I am stoically eating an olive.


Sean was attacked by a dog named Banjo.

Banjo was fascinated by this robot dog.

Then w'all had a nice conversation that covered the Great Depression, the Holocaust, the Korean War, and the Plague. Seriously.

Now, I don't care where you come from. Boiled red cabbage and mint ice cream does not a tasty dessert make.







Back home me and the brothers watched that Harry Potter movie that I raved about all summer. We were up til 4am because we got a late start due to a ninety minute argument over who got to sit in the big chair.

Christmas morning we enjoyed our traditional Christmas breakfast dish and sat down to watch TV as a family. What did we watch? Well what else?

Then Sean, who's going to stenography school, tried to teach me some stenography. Man, that is complicated business. No wonder there's a whole school for it.

Aaaaand we're done.