Christmas came and went. It was fun. I didn’t get much, but that’s okay with me. I got new Doc Marten boots and I really needed those. I’m happy. The kids got a lot of stuff.

Party after party after party

We started our Christmas festivities on Sunday, 23 December by taking a journey to my parents’ house in West Valley City where we met up with my sister, her family, my brother, his kids, and Tecia. We had a big Christmas dinner cooked by my mother (which surprised me because my dad and I had said we didn’t want a big hot dinner and that cold cut sandwiches would be fine) which was wonderful, as usual.

After dinner, we opened presents. I was in charge of distributing all the presents into appropriate piles around the room. I wrote up names on small pieces of paper and told the little kids to match the presents with the names on the papers. That worked out well.

My mom had bought matching pajamas for all her grandchildren with the plan of getting a picture of all of them in front of her Christmas tree so she could use it for her Christmas cards next year. She asked me to bring all my photo equipment down so we could get the picture on Sunday, but when I got there, we found out my sister’s oldest daughter didn’t make it down because she had to work.

My brother was planning on taking his kids to my sister’s house on Christmas Day to play in the snow so we decided to plan on getting the picture at her house on Christmas Day as soon as he got there.

Maya & Lucy in new pajamas

My brother Tom sucking his thumb with his new teddy bear

Monday, 24 December (Christmas Eve) we went to Christine’s aunt Bonnie’s house in Richmond and had a party with all of Christine’s dad’s siblings and their families. It was fun and there was good food. I watched Lucy while Christine played Bingo with everyone.

Maya with her new coat

Lucy with her new coat

On Christmas morning, the girls woke up around 8:00 and we opened presents. Maya got a karaoke machine, a SpongeBob Squarepants doll, a doctor set, a and "magnadoodle". Lucy got a pretend cell phone that makes a lot of sounds, a popper toy, and a barbie plate and bowl.

After we opened presents, Christine made a big breakfast including sausage, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, and toast. It was great!

Lucy checks out her new phone

Maya shows off her doctor set

Around noon, we went over to my sister’s house to meet up with my brother’s kids and take that picture my mom wanted for her 2002 Christmas card. When we got there, we found out my brother in law had taken their son snowmobiling and nobody knew when they’d be back.

I was pretty pissed off. My sister thought I was upset because I was "scared of mom," but, in fact, I was mad because I had things to do and places to be and I was irritated that nobody felt it was important to respect her wishes. My sister’s family seemed to be having difficulty acknowledging that my mother had spent a good deal of money to buy everyone these pajamas in exchange for posing for one picture.

My sister suggested just taking the picture without her son and then taking a picture of him later and "morphing him in" (Yes, I know they don’t understand these technical terms they try to use). I shrugged and reluctantly agreed to that plan and we went ahead and took the picture. Later, as I thought about it, I realized executing this plan would entail me spending hours in an image editing program like Photoshop or The Gimp. At a time when my time is very valuable as I try to find a new job to support my family, I can’t really justify spending three to four hours doing that when I should be sending out résumés and looking for job postings.

So, I called my mom and told her what was going on. She said to just forget it. I could tell she was upset - mostly that nobody seemed to appreciate her gift or return her the one small favor she had asked for. I couldn’t blame her.

After that stupid fiasco - and all the stress it gave me on Christmas Day - we went to Christine’s parents’ for the afternoon. We had some dinner there. opened some more presents, and played some games. It was relaxing, casual fun.

New Music

I’ve been in the process of re-editing my first video production from when I was sixteen years old: Interesting Stupidity. I’ve been gathering up all the original photos and music and digitizing the video. It’s gone pretty well, but I needed one CD I didn’t have: David Lee Roth’s Skyscraper album from 1988.

I was going to buy the CD new, but then I found someone selling it used on Amazon.com for one dollar. I grabbed it and paid about $2.50 in shipping. It came this morning and I promptly listened to it. The CD itself is in great shape and the music really takes me back to the time period when I was in high school and hanging out with my best friends Thom, Jon, and Dave.

Job Search Update

Still no new job. TerraStar has agreed to extend my employment so I can finish the project I’m working on, but the new deadline is coming up fast. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to finish it up for the most part by then.

Anyway- that’s all for now.