My dog is a demon, and other Christmas tales...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I went home to WV and spent the long weekend trying to see all of my family and as many of my friends as possible.

For the trip home my car was packed so tight with gifts that I think it would have popped if I had tried to squeeze one more thing into it. As it was, I barely had room to sit and drive, and poor little Baci had just enough room to lie down in. We hit some traffic between Frederick and Hagerstown, which was expected, but the rest of the way was easy.

For the first time, I spent a good portion of Christmas Eve shopping. I have always been against doing that, but I gave in this year and went. It wasn’t quite as bad as I expected and I did have fun getting to spend some time first with Micki and her kids, then later that day with Tricia. This past Thursday was Tricia’s birthday, so we decided to go out to lunch at Rio Grande to celebrate. Lots of good food and drink later, we went to the register to pay, only to be told, “Thanks! Merry Christmas!” When I asked, “Excuse me,” the guy told us that he was giving all of his favorite customers free lunch that day! . It was so funny—the guy in front of us paid $47 bucks for his meal, but Tricia and I got out for free. It could have something to do with the fact that this guy flirts with me every time I am in there, I don’t know... ;)

My whole family got together at Cindy’s house later that evening to open presents, my goodness did we have a lot! The kids had so much fun, which just increased how much fun all of the adults were having. I ended up with so much stuff, that on the return trip to Maryland, my car was still loaded with as much as the trip to West Virginia! I have tons of new stuff for my bar, including an awesome drink mixer/shot set that is made to look like a chemistry set (complete with biohazard and radioactive labels), two coaster sets, a clock, and three or four wall hangings, a beautiful new sweater (strange enough, the only clothing that I got), a new set of pots and pans for my kitchen, and tons of other stuff that I know I am forgetting. I was still in quite a bit of pain from my ribs that evening and doped up on vicodin, so my mind wasn’t all with me. I really feel lucky to have remembered that much! I figure as I put everything away over the next few days I will be happily surprised once again as I look through all of it. I ended the evening by attending the Christmas Eve service at my church with my dad. It was a beautiful service as always, and it was nice to see my church family again.

Christmas morning I opened my stocking from Santa and then got ready and headed off to church again. I heard about some churches canceling services because it was Christmas morning, and I just have to wonder what they were thinking. I am far from being a religious zealot or anything, but isn’t the whole meaning of Christmas to celebrate Jesus’ birth, so why would a church decide that opening presents at home was more important that telling the Christmas story? But anyways, on with my day. Once we got home I directed dad in how to prepare the turkey and got it cooking. It has become tradition now for me to cook the turkey (cook one good turkey and you will never live it down), but STILL in pain from my ribs, I couldn’t lift it, so I had to have dad do the work for me. We worked the rest of the afternoon preparing a delicious Christmas dinner, then joined around the table and made complete pigs of ourselves! Micki and her family weren’t with us for dinner, but came over later to spend the rest of the evening with us, and we celebrated my aunt’s birthday. The only bad mark on the day was when my aunt decided to go in and pet Baci, who was locked in a bedroom to keep her away from the kids. I don’t know exactly what happened, but somehow Izzy ended up in there as well and before it was all over and done with, Baci had bit him and left a nasty gash on one of his fingers. I felt so terrible, the little guy screaming and crying, not wanting anyone to touch his hand. Chris held him and comforted him while I got a washcloth and cleaned it up. The poor little thing didn’t even want me to touch it to put a band-aid on it, and he LOVES having a band-aid for anything. As of today, it is all irritated and swollen, so Cindy is awaiting a call from the doctor to see if she needs to take him in, and I am awaiting a call from Cindy to see if the doctor wants my dog put down. With any luck, since she is a family dog and it was a minor bite, nothing will have to be reported. Wish me luck!

Monday I went out to lunch with one of my old coworkers, Carla. We spent two hours trying to catch up, but I think we could have spent the whole day. I didn’t have as much luck at the steak house as I did with Tricia at Rio Grande—Carla and I had to actually pay for our meals. That evening my family and I celebrated my dad’s birthday with dinner and cake and ice cream afterwards. Lots and lots of good food all weekend long! I guess that is one perk of having so many birthdays to celebrate right at Christmas! :)

Then yesterday I made the long trek back home to Maryland, but not before hitting Mi Pueblito for one last bit of good food! I got back here about 8:30 last night and spent the next half hour unloading everything from my car. And now the clean up and put away part of Christmas begins...with any luck, I just might be done with it before the New Year!

I hope everyone had as wonderful a holiday as I did!!! Now onto New Year’s! I am really thinking I might just stay in this year, see if I can’t rest up some and maybe, just MAYBE, get over this whole rib thing and start feeling better. It has been a month now, and that is more than long enough! Anyone got any good plans for New Year’s Eve? If I don’t post again before then, have a safe and happy one!