We had a great Christmas weekend. I got off Thursday after working a little late, excited to get home. Jackie, Ian and I played around and watched TV and just relaxed. It was great.
On Friday we were able to go to two Xmas parties. One was at Jackie's Aunt Jerry's place and the other at her Dad's place a few miles south of Pueblo. I sorta ate way too much chile and tamale's at Jerry's place (it was damn good) so I was too full to really partake in the Prime Rib that Steve had cooked up. When I first got there I had a Fat Tire...after this I felt like I was going to bust. I did manage to stuff down one prime rib but I wasn't good for much else.
Ian was pretty tired, plus we got to Steve's a little late. We had to duck out after an hour to get it on home. We couldn't have left a moment too soon, Ian was screaming most of the way home because he was exhausted. Him and Bubba earlier in the day had been running around Jerry's house with Ian grabbing a toy, Bubba taking it away, and Ian either finding another one, or chasing after Bubba screaming. That's gotta tire anyone out!
I've noticed that I'm really against smoking lately. I don't want Ian around it, and I want Jackie to stay away as well. Thankfully, Ian stayed on the other side of the room while Carla, her son, and her mother went at it...not sure why they couldn't go outside or not do it all together, but this just affirms why I don't like it - bad for you, and addictive enough that you can't stop while company is over.
The party at our house was on Xmas day. With Jackie as fat as she is, we decided to cheat a bit with the dinner. We FedEx'ed in Corky's from Memphis. Jackie finally got to go to Corky's at this year's US Open. Of course, that's all she talked about doing in the weeks before. I'm so glad we did this. The dinner was fantastic, plus I'm super excited to have left overs. I can take eating shrimp, ribs, and yummy beans much better than endless turkey, turkey, turkey. The familiy seemed to have a great time. We actually brought presents to the party this year, and even that went great. Everyone opened them at the same time so I don't think people really felt left out.
We also did our White Elephant gift exchange. Last year this took the better part of an hour. This year it was not as exciting, yet still fun. People just got a present that they were satisfied with, so there wasn't much trading. I think that next year we'll allow people to open their present and then trade if they wish.
This year I also bought some alcohol to get everyone in the festive mood, but everyone in Jackie's family has stopped drinking! I got to play a game of “Shot” chess with Brian, but we quit after one game. Everyone was still pretty social and had a good time...so I probably won't be buying the case of beer next year. Of course, now I have some more yummy beer to have with my ribs :)
Sunday we had breakfast and opened some more presents up at my parents house. My mom gets some good gifts but then goes overboard by throwing in beef jerkey and a ornament off the tree. Oh well, nothing's changed here. All I got one year for Christmas was a toothbrush, while my brother got a Play Station.
The rest of the day I just lounged with Ian and Jackie. It was a great wind-down to a awesome weekend. We watched episodes of Smallville, a show about superman as a teenager (great show btw). Next weekend we get to trek up to Breckinridge to celebrate the New Year. Life is pretty good :)