Boy, I've kind of let things go slack haven't I?  It's the holiday season, I guess.  Of course, I've had a lot of time to just sit around due to the vacation, but I haven't written much of anything.  I wrote a little bit when I went out to Johnstown this past weekend, but nobody would want to read that.  Really.

Anyhow, I suppose I should recap the holidays.  Pre-Christmas was very hurried.  The Saturday before Christmas was scheduled as a game day.  However, we had made tentative plans (in the way that someone suggests that we do something and then nothing is discussed about it until the last minute) to go see The Two Towers that evening instead of playing our regular game. 

Somehow, and I think this was Donna's idea but I can't be sure, we ended up doing gift exchange instead.  This was a problem because not all of our friends' gifts had arrived.  So, an hour after we were supposed to be there, Berta and I were running around to stores still buying last-minute gifts.  Nothing big, just some books, but they filled out the somewhat thin appearance of the gift certificates we already had.

The gift exchange went smoothly, although some people didn't rush out like the fools we are to get things that they didn't have, so not everyone had gifts to exchange.  It's not a big deal, but it would have been nice if everyone was ready for it instead of rushing it.  Besides that, Jen wasn't there which created some hoopla on Sunday.

So on Sunday, Jen apparently dragged Dave all over the country delivering gifts to everyone.  It was nice to receive a gift from Jen, but she didn't have to rush out and deliver everything.  This just contributes to the idea that the whole holiday felt rushed.

Monday night Berta was feeling sick, so I took Mom and Nana for a ride to see all of the Christmas lights on peoples' houses.  We drove around West Chester for a while, but there wasn't much of anything to look at light-wise.  I guess people decided not to hang so much up this year.  We should have gone to Longwood instead.

On Tuesday evening, we went over to my Aunt Dede and Uncle Hinky's house for their Christmas Eve open house.  We had sandwiches and talked to their relatives.  Fran and Karen were there and Pat and I did a little juggling education.  I hope they don't hurt themselves.

Christmas on Wednesday was nice.  We stayed at home for the morning.  Abby watched while Berta opened all of her presents for her.  Maybe next year she'll get the point of gift wrapping.  Santa brought her a slide and a basketball hoop and a small music keyboard, among many other smaller things.

Berta made a particularly good baked french toast thing with cream cheese for breakfast.  There was orange juice.

The afternoon was at Mom's house.  We all exchanged gifts.  Many cool new items were acquired.  Berta got a nice sweater thing she's been wearing everywhere, along with a bunch of gift certificates.  Mom got both me and Pat a MegaTokyo blanket, which is much larger than it appears on the ThinkGeek site.  Pat got me the Netgear router, which is very cool.  Nana got me a bunch of useful Microsoft software.  And Abby made out pretty well, too, with a new shopping cart and play food.

Speaking of food, dinner at Mom's was good, too.  I don't normally like ham, but the ham was good.  I ate a little bit of everything, I think.  We were all very stuffed.  I wonder if Mom has since gotten rid of all of the cookies she baked last week.

Sometime on Christmas we negotiated with my dad to travel out there on Thursday, which worked out well since we weren't all rushed.  Dad's place was a good trip.  I think my Uncle John lives there recreationally, though.  Abby got a toy talking robot and some foam alphabet floor tiles from my dad.

On Friday, Pat and I sat around and watched anime most of the afternoon.  Great Teacher Onizuka mostly.  It wasn't bad.  I didn't quite like the way the artist drew their lips when they were making odd faces, though.  Just a point of style, I guess.

Over the weekend, we trekked out to Johnstown.  We got to see only Mary Ann and Emma of her available sisters.  Therese never appeared.  Regardless of whose fault it was we never connected on Saturday, she still had the firm and definite opportunity to get to see us on Sunday, and chose not to.  When I travel over 400 miles to be snubbed because of some miscommunication (accidental or otherwise) that doesn't involve me, I don't bother looking for excuses.

Anyway, Abby got some nice stuff.  And I was surprised to get gifts, too, which were very thoughtful and unnecessary.

And so we're back.  Yesterday was a void.  I burned a hole through one of Berta's new Rubbermaid containers trying to make rice.  And after two failed attempts, I decided that we should go out to eat.  So we went to the mall and got Popeye's.  I hate that place.  But I picked up MechAssault on the way out, and it seems like a pretty entertaining game, even if I'm really bad at it.

Alright, I guess I'm all up to date.  I probably should remember to write something every day so that these things don't get so long, but hopefully the new year will start with something fresh. 

Ps.- I hope to have Christmas pictures online soon.