The Yule

For the first Christmas in many years, the boys opened presents when there was actual daylight outside our front window. The slightly later start began a mellow Christmas day that was blessedly uneventful.

Michael didn't wake up until after 7 a.m., and the day moved at a slow pace after that. We opened presents, had breakfast, I got a quick nap, watched "A Christmas Story," ate lunch, tried out my new snowshoes with Popcorn up at the H Rock, took another quick nap, watched basketball, played three games of Pandemic with Ben (it's such a fun board game), and am now sitting with just the glow of the Christmas tree and an REM documentary on VH1 Classic.

The mellow day was appreciated. I used to work almost every Christmas day, because I always preferred having Christmas Eve off, and with no family nearby, the holiday was easy overtime. Today, I was happy there was no work on my agenda, nothing planned other than some board game playing. We don't quite have a midday Christmas tradition, but maybe being mellow will be enough.

I went outside tonight to get the dog around the block one more time, and I saw in the southeast sky the star I had picked out for my grandmother after she died last March. I missed her a little today, though growing up, we didn't really see her on Christmas Day -- usually, it was Christmas Eve. The last Christmas holiday we saw her and my grandfather was 1999, when we still lived in Madison. I'm trying to recall that holiday -- I bought the coffee table for Lori that I'm looking at right now in our living room.

A quick present rundown for 2015: I got the snowshoes, a tumbler for tea at my favorite coffee shop, a Dice Masters expansion, and a Star Wars t-shirt. Lori got a neck messager from the boys. Michael got Super Smash Brothers and Star Trek Attack Fleet, plus a new basketball backpack. Ben got a Big Ben Lego set, a water polo ball, a Galaxy Trucker expansion, and an iPod touch case.

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