Today is the last day of 2008. This year was full of great things for me and my family, but was also painful in many ways for humanity as a whole. I spent the better part of 2008 listening to everyone’s opinion (ad nauseum) about which band of crooks would best run the country. I thought maybe after the election I would get a reprieve from the propaganda machine and all the divisive finger-wagging. But now the financial crisis has stepped-in to stoke everyone’s appetite for anger, panic and outrage (me included as I find myself randomly muttering, “those bastards should be thrown in prison”, as I walk around the house). As Mark Twain said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”
In the desert of this long year was the oasis that is Christmas. Melissa and I had locked-down spending all year (she has been a great influence on me with regard to frugality). However, we both decided that this Christmas was going to be a blow-out. To help make it so, my sister-in-law (Suzanne), my mother-in-law (Suzanne) and my father-in-law (Glenn) all came down to spend Christmas with us. It was a hoot. My mother-in-law is the best cook ever, period. She made all kinds of munchies, made a spaghetti and meatball feast one night, prepared a smoked brisket, smoked turkey and two smoked pork roasts and she made multiple breakfasts all while tending to the kids and cleaning as we went. Both Suzannes and Melissa made a Christmas dinner that was actually larger than our Thanksgiving feast (I have a few photos of it in the slideshow). I have gained just under 10 pounds in the last 1.5 weeks and we still have leftovers in the fridge. Nice!
All the photos for the month of December are here. Many of these are photos of the kids opening gifts so forgive the redundancy.
The number of gifts under the tree this year was almost gross. It sprawled about six feet to the left of the tree and about 5 feet to the right. I won’t try itemizing all the things everyone received because it would make for a boring read and is frankly embarrassing.
I took vacation for the week of Christmas and the week of New Years. My brother Justin is coming to visit us tomorrow and he is staying for four days. So far we took the kids to see “Bedtime Stories”; it reached almost 70 degrees here one day and I got a round of golf in; Melissa and Suzanne hit the after-Christmas sales; Glenn and I caught a few good meetings; I got two motorcycle rides in; Melissa and I have been slowly cleaning-up and organizing the house.
My cousin Joe and his wife Sara just had their first child, a boy, and he is healthy and Momma is doing well from what I understand.
I have no resolutions for the New Year. I am just going to take it a day at a time. I suppose that is a resolution in itself.
Melissa and I are looking forward to the final episodes of “Battlestar Galactica”, the new season of the “Sarah Connor Chronicles”, the new season of “Heroes” and the new season of “Flight of the Conchords”. We are simple people with unrefined tastes.
I could go on-and-on, but it has been the best Christmas holiday I can remember. We are very, very blessed here at the Kentucky Macumbers …