Christmas 2004
It makes sense to lump my life update into this post entitled “Christmas,” because my events as of late center around this. My most surprising present came from Mykala. On Tuesday the 21st, she declared that she could not wait to give me my present any longer, and that I should come up north to see what it was. Eager to know what this present was, but a little apprehensive (I guess I get nervous too easily), I wrapped her presents and headed up north. I was greeted with a bright pink Victoria’s Secret box, inside which I was told my present was hiding. Since women’s underwear did not seem like a gift I will ever receive, my brain raced through things that could fit in the box. I slowly parted the pink tissue paper, and then did a double-take in shock: looking back at me was the blue face of a Motorola V551 Videophone. Because I am on her plan, I can talk to Mykala as much as I want (which is quite a bit) from any place, anytime, anywhere. This is such a cool gift. I have been spending the last few days constantly fiddling and learning this phone, I almost have a custom song written to ring on calls (adapted from a piano song).
In between all this, I caught up with some folks at Lifetime. One of the people I know is the dad of a kid a grade below me; nice guy. Not long ago, he came up to me and said he and some friends started to call this one exercise I do “the Alex” - I thought this was great, and I think I will refer to it by that name from now on. I will spare you the details of this exercise, but they call it such because they haven’t seen anyone else do it. Points for … something, I’m not sure. I also caught up with Marcus, whom I talk with once every 7 months or so. It is always interesting to talk to old friends and see what they are doing with their lives; its fun to see people going out into the world and succeeding.
On the 23rd, we went ice skating at The Depot in Minneapolis. This was a grand time, but some muscles in my back continue to recover from a spill I took face first. I learned the basic rules of the robot dance moves from Mykala, and we taught ourselves to skate backwards … sort of. We returned to the house to a lovely lasagna dinner; dessert was spritz, fudge, and the sugar cookies. The camel cookies provide the most “bang for your cookie buck,” although I was able to fashion a snowman cookie out of leftover dough, and that was pretty cool looking. Our sugar cookies have the unfortunate tendency to swell up an unusual amount, so most cookies looked rather bloated (the angels wings were stuck to the back of her head, ditto with Santa’s bag and his head). Anyhow, I can not think of a better way to spend a winter evening than to skate around an oval at the historic depot (where my mom had picked up her grandma many years ago when trains still ran through it), listening to music, and enjoying wonderfully wonderful holiday company and good cheer. It is not an evening I will soon forget.
Inidentally, the 24th of December of this year is not a day I will soon forget, either. I drove up north for a little while so Mykala could open her present. I had completely mislead her as to the gift (showing her the massive box it came in, wrapping it in a fairly large box, dropping hints that I was “still shopping” after we had looked at the item), so I was quite excited for her to open it. Anyhow, she looks stunning in her new necklace, and I was very pleased that she had mentioned before opening it that she was “sure she would not be opening any jewelry today.” Mission accomplished? I would say so. From her family, I received the wrist belt I have been wanting so much (I really do not know what to call it - leather bracelet would be a better term) and a gift certificate: I was surprised myself! (I thought my tagging along on their cell plan was certainly gift enough, but it was a wonderful surprise.)
You know, though, let me be honest: it is sharing in good company that makes the holidays so special, and that is what I will remember most from yesterday. I wish all of you a Merry Christmas, and I hope to stay in touch via the comments, QuickMail, email, IM, phone, or in person - technology is great when it does what we designed it to do: bring people together. God bless and have a happy Christmas day.