Xmas glut

Rain on Xmas is a slap in the jolly old face. It's like...Santa getting drunk and deciding he wants to talk about football while you sit on his lap instead of what presents you want. And then he drools on you...only it's freezing cold. Don't get me wrong. I've had a great holiday season so far. But good lord, cold rain makes me hate...and Xmas is no time to hate.

We had a most amazing meal at my mom's on Xmas eve. Roast chicken that was moist and flavorful, baked yams, mashed potatoes, rich dark gravy, classic stuffing, and this collared greens/pear/caramelized onion/smoked Gouda/dried cherry casserole that my sister made. Straight tasty. Then we opened presents...which is always fun. Everyone liked what we had gotten them although we were missing two key presents...the 3rd season of 6 ft Under for my sis and bro-in-law, and knives for my mom...which sucked (friggin Amazon!), but they weren't the only presents we had for them so...Xmas was saved.

Xmas day was spent with The Lady's fam and was great. Honestly I could have eaten breakfast before we started getting into the avalanche of presents dominating half of their living room, but thankfully I got a few Clif bars in my stocking to tide me over. Not even opening presents can distract my fat ass from sausage and eggs. I got Beck's and Built to Spill's new albums, a gc for dinner at an Italian place (to be used with her siblings), some fine chocolates, some new-fangled razor with 42 blades (they're lifting the skin!), a portable DVD player (for both of us), and a few bottles of hot sauce. And...The Lady bought me an ipod. 30 gigger vid. That honestly almost made me cry. I've never been hell bent on an ipod but I've definitely always wanted one. It was really more how sweet and awesome of a present it was. Great rubber case that even covers the click wheel. Never saw it coming. She loved her coat too (which she never saw coming either) and her parents got her skis, so she was feeling pretty good.

Some reindeer manure hit the holiday fan when pops realized a bad power cord had been included with the young one's xbox 360 (friggin ebay!)...but all it needed was a standard PC-tower type three-pronger and I had ma dig one up for us in the basement (the one that came in the box was missing a grounding socket on the female end). Of course it wasn't as simple as just that...the stupid xbox power converter has a ridge below the grounding pin in the socket that the female end plugs into...making it nonstandard in a most asinine fashion. Upon realizing this I offered a quasi-desperate/quasi-heroic "I'll cut this," which I suppose was some sort of misplaced attempt to get permission for the risks that attend tampering with power cords and 120 volts, etc. Of course everyone was all in favor, primarily I think due to the sheer terror at the thought of their child/brother not being able to play with his primary gift on Xmas morning. So I proceeded to gouge out a spot for that stupid little nonstandard Xbox ridge that only Bill Gates would be stupid enough to include on his game console's power converter. Ultimately it worked, I got to frag some alien invaders in vivid resolution and with a rumbling controller, and no one got electrocuted...yet. So...Xmas was again saved.

Xmas night saw everyone (The Lady's full family...my mom, sister, bro-in-law) at our place for dinner which was great. I overcooked the steaks (med-med well when most everyone asked for med rare) which I was far more disappointed in than anyone else...and we forgot the mushrooms (which would have been a great topping for the steaks), but the scallops were great and aside from having to grill in the rain while hating with extraordinary bitterness the total lack of snow and presence of steady sky piss, everyone swam in holiday cheer.

And then to top it off...yesterday saw the arrival of not only The Lady's ski boots (they fit perfectly...which is awesome), but also my snowboard. I will get bindings as soon as my correct boots arrive (friggin The House!)...and move to Canada if it doesn't snow heavily by the time my rig is complete.