The Christmas Update!

Merry Christmas, everybody! My brother Nathan and I are celebrating this week by flying out to North Carolina to visit my parents and my other brother Jonathan in Buies Creek.

On Sunday, the night before we flew down, Nathan and I went to visit with Vivian and her parents at their house in Bellevue. Donna had a beautiful display underneath her tree of tiny Dickens' A Christmas Carol houses and miniatures. The five of us had dinner together, and then we got to open a huge assortment of gifts and stocking stuffers.

Among the gifts were chocolate penguins, nuts, a pocket calendar, nail trimmers, nuts and nutcrackers, a toy top, and a number of things. I got From Vivian, I got a Superman Christmas ornament, a remote control car, and MacFreelance, a billing and time-keeping software package for the Macintosh. It's made by a company called Macware, which I discovered is located right in Omaha.

I had presents for Vivian's parents, and I gave Vivian a green cashmere sweater, a plush Tigger, and a couple little things. Nathan got her some Ghirardelli chocolates, which I have since become addicted to. We had a great time together, and I was overwhelmed by Vivian and her parents' generosity. We opened a package of egg nog fudge I had bought from the Old Market candy shop to celebrate the season before heading on home for the night.

The next day, Nathan and I flew on our to North Carolina. Vivian is taking care of the beige bomber for the week. The flight out was uneventful, and we actually got there 20 minutes early. We flew with Southwest, which always seems to go smoothly. Jonathan was still working when we arrived home, so we got to have dinner together and I hung Vivian's Superman ornament up on the family Christmas Tree.

When Jonathan returned and the whole family was finally together again, we opened presents. I got copies of iLife from Nathan and Quicken from Mom and Dad, making this a Christmas where I received more Macintosh software than any other. I also got some Super Mario cartoon DVDs from Jonathan. Jonathan got four classic NES games from Nathan and me, and Nathan got Madden 2008 and Super Mario Galaxy from mom and dad, which should be loads of fun to play if we can manage to get an analog adapter for his Wii. We also got some cans of pringles, almonds, and Extra brand gum from mom, which were all easily consumed shortly after being opened.

Christmas Day proved to be lazy and wonderful. We watched a couple episodes of Mystery Science Theater, and Jonathan had plenty of episodes to go around again this year. I also brought out the remote control car that Vivian gave me and had a tug-of-war with Jonathan's little remote control monster truck.

After a lazy afternoon, we got together for a nice Christmas dinner at the end of the day, with a turkey breast and all the usual extras: stuffing, sweet potatoes, sweet pickles, and pumpkin pie. It was a lovely Christmas, but the best part was being able to have the whole family together again for a whole week of Christmas.