Christmas time in Dallas

Since getting back from the road trip I've gotten online twice, both times to check how my fantasy sports teams were doing. Kind of sad.

Lisa and I spent Christmas Eve with her parents; first we had lunch and went shopping with her mom (we got cookware, hurrahh!!! Seriously). Then we went to her Dad's and played with Kim and had a huge dinner. Santa brought Kim a play-kitchen and Bob and I put it together. I think there's a not insignificant amount you can learn about a relationship between two guys in how they put something together based on a few questions: 1) Is the mocking in good nature or ill? 2) Who makes the first screwdriver joke? 3) Are the instructions read and if so by whom? etc. (good, Bob, John). Between two friends, you see how strong the friendship is. Between the father-in-law and son-in-law we established that he wasn't going to kill me and I wasn't going to abandon Lisa and our 12 babies.

Christmas morning went well and after we let Kim out of her suspense (where's the play kitchen?), everyone relaxed and had a good time. Lisa and I came down to my parents after lunch, and opened presents here. I counted 12 pairs of socks moving in different directions along with 2 hotel robes, and 2 twice regifted sausage and cheese baskets. More happily books were also popular as were large checks (yay food and rent). After a wonderful dinner (best part of Christmas is always the turkey and canned cranberry sauce), Lisa and I met up with my highschool friends Jeff, Joe and Sarah. Joe is a unique character and lived up to his billing for Lisa. Jeff, as always, smoothed tensions with jokes, and Sarah reminded the engineers to avoid shop talk. In all it was great to see the old-timey folks and get somewhat caught up.

Today, we saw Sweeney Todd with Tracy and Zach. I didn't like it at all, but I think that was largely due to the horrible sound and film quality from my theater. I think that if I give it another shot I might like it more, but I thought the gore was unnecessary and actually took away from the enjoyability of the movie. I was expecting it to be a dark comedy along the lines of Edward Scissorhands, but it wasn't a comedy. Knowing that now, perhaps I would enjoy a second showing more.

After the movie, Lisa stumbled upon some black high-heels that she wanted on sale. The register guy couldn't find the price even after several tries at various register / UPC tricks. Finally he gives up, and to save the labor of research, declares the shoes to cost $9.99. Lisa is thrilled. Even more so when the register guy gives her the 20% discount advertised to make the shoes $8.65. The register guy declares himself a beast when the register allows him to make this sale, Lisa agrees and admits that she is now in love with the 16 year old ("he told me to say it, but he did have pretty green eyes"), and then volunteers "you are a beast....muah!" She didn't kiss him...just made a kissy sound. While somewhat jealous, I do recognize that you don't get a nice pair of black high-heels every day for $8.65 and will let it slide.

I can't wait to get back to Norman. I love my parents and sister and high school friends, but man, I love my own bed and the freedom of being in my own apartment. I'll get to do some work (much needed), play some video games, and take care of random chores that I've been avoiding. All of which are mundane but rewarding when completed. I think that's a sign of maturity.

In random, blog-related notes, Lisa notes that I'm negligent in my updating. This is a relative comparison. If she continues to update daily and I continue every-other day, that's still a very well-maintained blog. You'll also notice that I can't spell and have a terrible memory. To pretend otherwise would be false-advertising.