Christmas

Christmas morning was the usual delightful chaos of presents being passed around, the sounds of laughter and surprise and gratitude and ripping paper. I was surprised once again by the generosity and thoughtfulness of my family, and Saori and were bith really happy our gifts from Germany were so welll appreciated. Brenda made the traditional chile relleños egg casserole, and we drank lots of coffee. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, chatting, and playing cards. Casey and Jarret took off, and once night fell, Tay,  Saori, and I slipped in the hot tub and watched the full moon rise over the snowy mountains across the valley. It would be the last full moon Christmas for 35 years.

The day after Christmas, I made my cinnamon apple pancakes for everyone, which were a big hit although Tay was prepared to make a run to town to buy real maple syrup instead of the log cabin on hand. I used to feel the same way, actually.

It was another shopping day- we hit Nordstrom’s Rack and TJMaxx. At the Rack, Saori picked up a dress which could be The Dress, a lovely cream gown, and I got a Ben Sherman bowtie, which could look really good for a casual garden party-themed wedding. We ate lunch at a soup and salad place, and then drove out to the IMAX for the Star Wars: A New Hope remake. Tay insisted on seeing it at IMAX, which is fine by me, but also in 3D, which was a bit much for me.

Given all the hype, I went in with guarded optimism, and I had a great time. It’s a great movie. It’s basically fan fiction, but with a 200 million dollar budget and the original actors. Actually, I want to go see it again in Houston. In 2-D, since the cinematography and depth of the set is lovely, and 3D tends to force one’s attention solely on the foreground.

After the movie, we went out to rent skis, lift tickets, and equipment, basically spending mom’s Christmas gift to us.

Boots, poles, skis: $25
Damage: $2
Pants: $8
Lift tickets: $73

Back at the house, we scrounged around to cobble complete sets of skiing equipment- jackets, gloves, helmets, pants, goggles, etc. We got pizza for dinner, reminisced about the glory that was Rome with aunt Brenda, and played a few rounds of Bananagrams. Larry won a round, and he was so unaccustomed to winning that we had to point out that he had in fact, concluded the game as the winner. We are really quite competitive.