I'll Be Home for Christmas
Or, rather, I was home for Christmas. Here's the obligatory report of the trip.
I took the bus from Salt Lake City to Fort Collins, Colorado last Thursday, December 23rd. It wasn't bad, although it certainly wasn't as glamorous as flying. But the trip went by quickly, and it was cheaper that I could have driven it myself. I finished Animal Farm and I, Robot on the trip, and started Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Once it got too dark to read (the lights on the bus were not outstanding) I switched over to my CD/mp3 player and listened to some music from Think Tank Media: Lana Lane, Erik Norlander, Mark McCrite, and, of course, the Rocket Scientists. It was cold that day: 10° F when I left the house in SLC, 0° F in Rawlins (in the late afternoon, so that was probably the high for the day), and -9° F when I got to the house in Johnstown. But we didn't get hit with the blizzard that buried most of the midwest, and the roads were clear.
We had our Christmas celebration with the nieces on the 24th, one of four such events they would attend (Mom, Dad, two sets of grandparents). We exchanged gifts with them, opening only those to or from Debbie and the girls (Mikayla and Jordan). I got a snow globe with pictures of the girls inside. Sam got one too, but his was leaking. It turned out that his had been left in the car overnight. Remember how I said it was well below zero the previous night? His had frozen solid and cracked the plastic bubble. It made for a good laugh.
The rest of the Christmas festivities waited until the next morning. Sam and his sig. ot., Kendra, come over at around 8:30 and we all opened the remaining presents while eating the traditional Christmas (and Easter) breakfast of goldenrod eggs. Highlights of gifts I received include a replica Colorado Rockies jersey and Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas Celebration from Mom and Dad and a PlayStation (v1.0, used) from Sam. I was pleased to find that everyone really liked the gifts I chose for them, too. We had never exchanged gifts at the breakfast table before, but we agreed afterward that it worked really well.
Sam and Kendra then had to leave to spend part of the day with her family. Mom and I went to Aaron's house to visit him and the girls and to deliver his gifts. Aaron and I were thinking along the same lines for gifts. I got him The Blue Collar Comedy Tour CD and Ron White's Drunk in Public CD; he got me The Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again DVD. He also gave me a beautifully framed, sepia-tone portrait of the girls - which I left on his counter when we left. It was good to spend time with Aaron and the girls, to see them together in his home. I think Mom was really surprised to see how well he's doing.
We got home, and Dad started cooking our traditional Christmas dinner: prime rib. (Did I mention that Dad's in the ag business?) There were other side dishes and hors d'oeuvres as well, including crab-stuffed mushrooms that were very tasty but too hot (spicy) for me to eat more than one. Sam and Kendra got back, and we sat down to dinner about 7:30, I guess. It was wonderful. The food was almost as good as the company.
Boxing Day (the 26th) found us meeting Sam and Kendra for breakfast at a little German bakery and restaurant in Loveland called Schmidt's. It was excellent. If you should ever find yourself there, I recommend the peach crepes. Derek came up from Denver that afternoon, and we spent a few hours together. It's sad to think that these visits will become even more infrequent now that he's decided to take the professor position at Small Midwest College. But it's what he needs at this time in his life, and I'm confident that we'll still remain close. After all, we've done it for a quarter of a century now.
Sam and Kendra came over that night, and Sam brought one of his gifts: a poker set, complete with four colors of chips and two decks of cards. Let me state at this point that I am not a gambler. I think casinos are a tax on people who are bad at math. Even if you just gamble recreationally - and I'm not saying I've never done this - you should never wager more than you can afford to lose, and you should go into any wager expecting to lose everything you bet. Having said that, the five of us sat down for a friendly (i.e., non-monetary) game of poker. Kendra had never played poker before, so we all set out trying to teach her. Sam started with Texas hold 'em, but it was soon agreed that five card draw would make for a better introduction. She proved to be a quick learner, and a good time was had by all. Dad opted out at 8:30 or so, Mom retired around 10:30, and the rest of us called it a game at midnight.
I got back on the bus in Fort Collins the next morning at 9:30, and it was much more crowded than the trip out had been. There were only two empty seats left when we got underway, and a seeing-eye dog was sitting on the floor in front of one of them. At our next stop in Laramie, half a dozen people were told they would have to wait for the next bus because we had no room. (I'm glad I got on in Fort Collins!) I spent most of the day napping and reading. I finished The Golden Compass about the time it got dark. Three books finished in one trip. At that rate, I should be able to give Derek back all the books he lent me about this time next year....
The bus pulled into the SLC station just after 6:00, and I made my way back home. After unpacking (mostly), talking to Mom and Aaron, and getting the PlayStation hooked up, I turned in. I was beat. Even if you're not doing the driving, 500 miles on the road is a long way to go in one day.
The Christmas holiday treated me well. I hope that was the case for all of you, too.
I took the bus from Salt Lake City to Fort Collins, Colorado last Thursday, December 23rd. It wasn't bad, although it certainly wasn't as glamorous as flying. But the trip went by quickly, and it was cheaper that I could have driven it myself. I finished Animal Farm and I, Robot on the trip, and started Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Once it got too dark to read (the lights on the bus were not outstanding) I switched over to my CD/mp3 player and listened to some music from Think Tank Media: Lana Lane, Erik Norlander, Mark McCrite, and, of course, the Rocket Scientists. It was cold that day: 10° F when I left the house in SLC, 0° F in Rawlins (in the late afternoon, so that was probably the high for the day), and -9° F when I got to the house in Johnstown. But we didn't get hit with the blizzard that buried most of the midwest, and the roads were clear.
We had our Christmas celebration with the nieces on the 24th, one of four such events they would attend (Mom, Dad, two sets of grandparents). We exchanged gifts with them, opening only those to or from Debbie and the girls (Mikayla and Jordan). I got a snow globe with pictures of the girls inside. Sam got one too, but his was leaking. It turned out that his had been left in the car overnight. Remember how I said it was well below zero the previous night? His had frozen solid and cracked the plastic bubble. It made for a good laugh.
The rest of the Christmas festivities waited until the next morning. Sam and his sig. ot., Kendra, come over at around 8:30 and we all opened the remaining presents while eating the traditional Christmas (and Easter) breakfast of goldenrod eggs. Highlights of gifts I received include a replica Colorado Rockies jersey and Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas Celebration from Mom and Dad and a PlayStation (v1.0, used) from Sam. I was pleased to find that everyone really liked the gifts I chose for them, too. We had never exchanged gifts at the breakfast table before, but we agreed afterward that it worked really well.
Sam and Kendra then had to leave to spend part of the day with her family. Mom and I went to Aaron's house to visit him and the girls and to deliver his gifts. Aaron and I were thinking along the same lines for gifts. I got him The Blue Collar Comedy Tour CD and Ron White's Drunk in Public CD; he got me The Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again DVD. He also gave me a beautifully framed, sepia-tone portrait of the girls - which I left on his counter when we left. It was good to spend time with Aaron and the girls, to see them together in his home. I think Mom was really surprised to see how well he's doing.
We got home, and Dad started cooking our traditional Christmas dinner: prime rib. (Did I mention that Dad's in the ag business?) There were other side dishes and hors d'oeuvres as well, including crab-stuffed mushrooms that were very tasty but too hot (spicy) for me to eat more than one. Sam and Kendra got back, and we sat down to dinner about 7:30, I guess. It was wonderful. The food was almost as good as the company.
Boxing Day (the 26th) found us meeting Sam and Kendra for breakfast at a little German bakery and restaurant in Loveland called Schmidt's. It was excellent. If you should ever find yourself there, I recommend the peach crepes. Derek came up from Denver that afternoon, and we spent a few hours together. It's sad to think that these visits will become even more infrequent now that he's decided to take the professor position at Small Midwest College. But it's what he needs at this time in his life, and I'm confident that we'll still remain close. After all, we've done it for a quarter of a century now.
Sam and Kendra came over that night, and Sam brought one of his gifts: a poker set, complete with four colors of chips and two decks of cards. Let me state at this point that I am not a gambler. I think casinos are a tax on people who are bad at math. Even if you just gamble recreationally - and I'm not saying I've never done this - you should never wager more than you can afford to lose, and you should go into any wager expecting to lose everything you bet. Having said that, the five of us sat down for a friendly (i.e., non-monetary) game of poker. Kendra had never played poker before, so we all set out trying to teach her. Sam started with Texas hold 'em, but it was soon agreed that five card draw would make for a better introduction. She proved to be a quick learner, and a good time was had by all. Dad opted out at 8:30 or so, Mom retired around 10:30, and the rest of us called it a game at midnight.
I got back on the bus in Fort Collins the next morning at 9:30, and it was much more crowded than the trip out had been. There were only two empty seats left when we got underway, and a seeing-eye dog was sitting on the floor in front of one of them. At our next stop in Laramie, half a dozen people were told they would have to wait for the next bus because we had no room. (I'm glad I got on in Fort Collins!) I spent most of the day napping and reading. I finished The Golden Compass about the time it got dark. Three books finished in one trip. At that rate, I should be able to give Derek back all the books he lent me about this time next year....
The bus pulled into the SLC station just after 6:00, and I made my way back home. After unpacking (mostly), talking to Mom and Aaron, and getting the PlayStation hooked up, I turned in. I was beat. Even if you're not doing the driving, 500 miles on the road is a long way to go in one day.
The Christmas holiday treated me well. I hope that was the case for all of you, too.
posted by Michael at
10:17 AM
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