Christmas came and went. New Year's came and went. All in all, everything went rather smoothly. Tracy and I wound up driving over 1300 miles and flying roughly 1500 miles. We spent a lot of time talking, and that was fun. I enjoyed hanging out with her.
Christmas in Oregon was a hoot, as usual. We met up with Tracy's family over at her parents' house. Most surprising was her brother Mark showing up at midnight on Christmas Eve. It settled the folks to know that he was safe, although it was a little weird because fairly often Mark talks when nobody is listening. It's a bit disconcerting sometimes.
We did the usual Christmas thing. Tracy and I hauled our booty up to Oregon in a hard shell suitcase, and it didn't get searched, which is good. Everything was passed out and opened like one would expect. Then we ate turkey and ham and whatnot, just like you're supposed to. Like I said, it was an according to Hoyle Christmas. I think everyone enjoyed their gifts. Tracy's dad seemed to love his MP3 player. (He's a gadget kinda guy.) Tracy and I dug our things.
We did Christmas activity I hadn't done in nearly 25 years: we went sledding. We had gone down their ice-covered street before, but that's not the same as tubing down a snowy hill. We started out going down the short but steep hill in the backyard. As is normally the case, we found a particular run through the juniper and down the side yard which got exclusive use. And as is also normally the case, the whole affair turned into something of a mini civil works project complete with course smoothing and improvements, hole filling, shaping, and even a fairly significant ramp (with a drop of a couple feet). We soon migrated to the neighboring vacant yard because of its pristine condition. By that time, however, we had been at it for a few hours and we were all more than a little cold and tired so we only made a couple dozen runs. The kids seemed fine, but us geezers were a bit torn up. Suzi was sore, and Tracy was too. Pete seemed mostly OK except for a bruise on the leg, and I had a knee swollen and bruised (every time I do something which involves me moving faster than a walking speed usually means that my right knee comes away inflammed and bruised). I'd do it over, though. It was great fun.
We left Oregon for Phoenix on Thursday and had another Christmas that night. It consisted mostly of us ripping open things while people watched. It was awkward at best. I don't like being at the center of attention, and I can't imagine that everyone coming over to my folks' house yet again just to see us open stuff was that entertaining. Maybe. But I had the idea that we would pass out our presents first and then quickly open everything while people were occupied. I think that worked well.
Christmas at my parents' house is always fun. It's sort of like a yuletide rodeo. You just have to go with the flow, and I always enjoy it (even when Springer is in the air). It's lots of activity, lots of family, staying up late, playing with toys, good food, and everything else a growing boy needs. There's always something happening and it's good.
As far as actual loot, I got lots of goodies. The biggest was a Matrix. I've been coveting it for a while now. I've got a Spyder (and which I've written far too much about before in this space) already, but comparing the two is like comparing a 2002 Mercedes SL600 to a 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit (diesel). OK, maybe it's not that bad. More like the Benz and my Toyota truck. And I like my truck, but I'd also like a really fast Mercedes. I'll probably write more about paintball and whatnot sometime soon.