We had a nice, low key Christmas this year. It’s the first Christmas in the new house. We did a small amount of decorating, nothing very elaborate. Michael got a good amount of presents. Last year he got the PS3 and Wii, so this year I was at a loss for what to get him.
We ended up getting him Guitar Hero 3, which he doesn’t really want. We also got him Assassins Creed for the PS3, the Wii gun with Link’s Crossbow game, some Yu-Gi-Oh and Chaotic cards, some comic books, and of course the usual boring clothing gifts. I also got him all the Smallville seasons on DVD, so I have condemned myself to weeks of nightly Smallville marathons.Â
This was the smallest Christmas we had in a while. No external family here. Last year I made the mistake of having my parents over. They spent the entire time watching a Law & Order marathon. I finally made Michael go downstairs to play video games when the detectives on the show discovered that the victim applied cocaine vaginally. That is my mothers idea of how to spent the holiday, so they were not invited back.
I know Christmas is supposedly in part about being with family, but honestly my family really sucks. I’m much happier when it’s just Michael and I. And don’t be worried about my family reading this. That would require literacy and a minimum level of interest in my life.
I decided to go a different route this year for Christmas gifts for friends. Traditionally I send out gift baskets. The first year I was here I took advantage of the close proximity of Harry and David’s store in Medford and sent out really great baskets that I put together for friends. But this year I decided to go a more philanthropic route. To my single male friends I sent out pin up calendars I got last month from my friend Gina. All the proceeds go to veterans, and she even sends calendars to troops serving in Iraq, and brings them to hospitals.
To most everyone else I made small donations through Changingthepresent.org. This website lets you make donations to different charities right from one site, which I think is great. I mostly did donations to prevent hunger and vaccinate children. I figured no one could object to that. How everyone loves a gift basket, I for one would prefer to see that I helped a child not go hungry for a month than have another mini-jar of jelly.
The weather was pretty nice. With all my complaints about being bored in Ashland, I have to say the weather is pretty great. People think it rains a lot in Oregon, but I don’t see it. Maybe because I’m in the Southern part. It snowed on Christmas, almost as if on queue, but not enough to cause any transportation issues. And of course Ashland is pretty good about holiday decorating downtown. It makes the area look even more quaint than the rest of the year, which is a pretty big challenge.
The view of the mountains from our window is pretty great. We really should try to take up skiing.
Overall it was a nice, laid back holiday. Now I’m off to Las Vegas for a less quiet New Years. Happy holidays everyone.
[tags]christmas, ashland, wii[/tags]
