Christmas in Review

So Christmas Eve: As I was saying, oh about two entries ago, the Mathis side was pretty much a bust, except I got a cool shortcake pan and a bottle of homemade Kalhua. We didn’t even really tuck into the Tequilla either.

Back at the Dittner’s, we ended up with 5 Mathis’s, 5 Skeltons, and 5 Dittners. Zach and Jasmine handed out the Christmas presents. Zach kept handing me Janyce presents, and everyone had to make sure they read their labels well before opening. I got a pretty good haul. I was a bit afraid when I received an obvious clothing box from Mom. Whatever it is, its usually hideous. Instead, it was a USC t-shirt. Tricia gave me all the coolio movies on my Amazon wish list, and Nikki gave me a pair of pajamas and a thermos so we wouldn’t have to use one of Grandma’s if we went to the snow. (We still think that’s what made us horribly sick last Christmas.) I got lots of random bath and lotion stuff. I also got a cordless Playstation 2 controller (So now we can stop tripping over the dang thing!) I also got some bakeware and a veggie tray. Got two books and a puzzle. (Liz and I just finished putting the puzzle together. It was a 1500 piece deal that nearly didn’t fit on the coffee table. I couldn’t go to sleep last night until we’d finished it. I think it will be displayed there for several days before we break it down.)

On Christmas Day we decided that there wasn’t going to be enough snow in the mountains to go sledding, so we hung about until it was time to head off to Uncle Chris’s new house. It sits on the edge of Red Bluff on a 10 acre lot. They’ve got a barn, a horse, a miniature horse and 2 ATV’s. Tricia and Nikki amused themselves by riding about on the ATV’s. Dad tried to amuse himself by building a bottle rocket glider powered by baking soda and vinegar. He’d given it to Zach for Christmas, but hadn’t realized how much effort went into constructing it. He was quite upset as Zach tried to “help.” Somehow, 9 year old craftsmanship didn’t please my dad, so I stepped in to help and sent Zach off on a few errands to calm Dad’s nerves.

Meanwhile, Tricia and Nikki had switched from horsepower to horse power. Nikki couldn’t get the horse to go any further away from the house than the miniature horse could follow, and since he was in a pen, that wasn’t too far. “Remember,” Cory said, as she put Tricia on the horse, “You’re the boss.”

Tricia tried to get the horse to move into the field. The horse turned and walked right into the barn. She tried to turn him, and he just turned right back around. Just as she finally got the horse cooperating, Dad decided to let off his bottle rocket in the far field. Yes, this was a good idea. Luckily, the horse didn’t seem too spooked, and the rocket flew onto the roof, further preventing any further incidents.

Dinner was Prime Rib and by that time I’d snacked too much to really be hungry. Dad began to occupy his time with other things than bottle rockets… namely bottles. Now Dad is a strange guy when he’s plastered. If you’re not careful, you get the entire global positioning system explained to you in extraordinary detail. He managed to corner Uncle Chris’s brother-in-law and talked at him for about an hour before we decided to try some Poker.

Now Poker just doesn’t work without money. Especially when you have a really annoying Uncle who keeps raising by the thousands and a drunk dad who sits and explains these really annoying rules to random card games. Give me a $5 a person poker tournament with Texas Hold’m and I’d be much happier.