Post-(Christmas-Crazies)

I felt the need to parenthesize my title so that it clarified I'm writing this post the Christmas-crazies and not that I'm experiencing post-Christmas crazies. Got it? Good. Here we go!

I worked the morning of Christmas Eve at the clinic, but Mike and I acted as techs that day, running around nearly non-stop. I soon regretted wearing my Skechers on account of them having nearly no padding, so my feet started to kill after only a couple hours. But we hustled thru the day and eventually closed up at 3. I ran back to my place quickly to pick up some forgotten items for the weekend, then down to Waldorf.

I made decent time getting down there, but was still sore and tired upon my arrival, so I lied down for 30 mins or so before joining everyone for dinner. I had a couple plates worth of food, spoke when spoken to, but mostly tried not to collapse at the table. After dinner, I went back to lying down to rest up before the last church service at 7:30. I wake up, roll over to the clock... 8:30. Guess that's one tradition I just broke - oh well. I go back to sleep until about midnight. I get up for maybe an hour or two, then spend the rest of the night forcing myself back to sleep. This lead to a sore neck and back. Bah.

Christmas day went pretty nicely. If nothing else, it was gorgeous outside, so that was a pleasant surprise. I opened presents with Mom and Dad, then we carted everything else over to Burke for more gifting and eating with them Sextons. We pull up to the sight of Leah riding around on her new tricycle, so she's having a blasty blast. We spend the rest of the day rocking gifts, consoling Laurence over his tooth/teeth, eating fantastic food and taking scattered naps. We eventually head back to Waldorf with Little Miss in tow, the rest of the Sexton party to follow the next day. Oh - and Chris apparently can't make soup. I know this sounds dumb, but I will out-dumb him soon enough.

I don't remember doing much on Friday... picked up some stuff around town, watched both WALL-E and Beowulf, going out to Mexico for dinner, not much else. But the ride home after dinner was interesting. Get ready for dumb! Chris and I evaluated our beer situation at the house and deemed it inadequate, so we made a stop on the way back. He stayed in the car with Laurence while I ran inside to get 12 bottles of whatever. I quickly do so, then come outside to see what I think is Chris standing outside, leaning into the car to fix up Lars in his seat. I decide the best signal for "we're ready to go" is to sit down in the shotgun seat and close the door. But instead of hearing, "let's roll," I get in response, "Ummm... can I help you?" I slowly notice how the seats feel a little different... wouldn't you know I got into some strangers' car while the mom was fixing up her own child in the back. They were surprisingly cool about it, considering they could've thought way worse of me and come after me. But we're still not sure who's got the better story: me or them? *shrugs*

Saturday meant building a train set for Leah. Why? I don't know. My cooperation in this obviously proves I'm just the muscle and not the brains. Stupid train set demanded some of both, though. After conquoring that, I packed up to head home, where Dad and I promptly signed my lease for another year at Mt. Marley. Spicy, meaty foodage was eaten, and then I had peace again. I spent the rest of the weekend just relaxing and doing things on my own schedule. It was nice.

That's pretty much it. As usual, I made out like a bandit for gifts this year: some movies, a couple shirts, wine glasses, kitcheny stuff, new Guitar Hero game, Shel Silverstein book, musical train ornament, framed picture of the kids, and (eventually) a new timing belt and water pump for my car. Lotsa good stuff, no real excess. I like.