White Christmas: Accomplished

I had my white Christmas, and what a nice weekend it was. My car caught a cold on the way home to Green Bay. The symptom most shown was spontaneous loss of gage readings, (looked much like an anti-sneeze), the speedometer, odometer and gas gage would go down to zero and then they would come back. While that happened the brake light would come on. It happened 50 times on the way home. At first I was really worried that I wouldn’t make it home, that I was loosing the alternator or something. I called Lance to see if it sounded familiar, and he blamed a cold too (or rather THE cold as it was only 1 above freezing with a -20 wind chill). I called Saturn then to see if I should bring it in to have it checked out; they said at my leisure. So either they are so busy this time of year they don’t need or want more business or they really don’t see it as a problem. I’m betting the former as the nice guy said the storm in green bay caused so many cars to be towed to them to be fixed. So I gave my car new windshield wipers for Christmas, and a new quart of oil, and that perked up her spirits greatly. On the way back to the Cities, she didn’t sneeze once. I figure I’ll keep an eye on it, but it’s probably one of those electrical or computer problems that you can spend a fortune on trying to isolate and never every truly fix.

On Christmas Eve, my family had to break with tradition. The NFL, in its infinite wisdom and money grubbing scrooginess, decided to have the Packers play on Christmas Eve at 2PM. Usually my family goes to Mass at 4, then eats dinner (prime rib-yum!) and then opens gifts. This year we did it a bit differently. You see, it wasn’t just any Packer game, it was against the Minnesota Vikings, and the winner would be crowned the NFC Central Division Champs. So, We switched the order. Watch the Packers, eat, go to Mass, and open presents. My dad got his present early when the Packers beat the Vikings 34-31 (same score as the first game played in GB). He was like a kid with a new toy for the rest of the night. The rest of the fam was quite happy, cause none of us wanted to deal with a grumpy papa for the rest of the night. Would have dampened the Christmas Spirit…drown it really.

Present opening was great fun. Everyone got something they really really wanted. My mom got her record player (for the old fashioned 33s, 45s and 78s), dad got his Miter saw, Troy got a Soniccare toothbrush (if you know my brother, it will not surprise you that this present made his day) and he liked the sling ski-carrier I got him too. I got so many wonderful things. A new desk chair, some nice winter gloves from Troy, and the Lord of the Rings, Return of the King DVD being high on the list of things I wanted. I got a new shiny from my parents too, though I don’t have it yet.

Christmas Day we had dinner with some of the extended fam. There was only 10 of us; it was quite quaint and really relaxing (usually we have a minimum of 20-25 for holidays). After a super yummy lunch of ham and acorn squash (where I got the leftovers) we settled into the living room to play some Phase 10 while light snow fell outside on top of the 8 inches of beautiful white stuff that was there already.

Sunday we went to my mother’s brother’s house for Turkey dinner (where I also got the leftovers) and more family togetherness. I headed back to the Cities after that, and the roads were clear, empty of traffic, and the temperature was warmer. Probably one of the best Christmas’s I’ve had in a while.