catching the first showing of a christmas story last night with mom and dad — the first of its annual 24-hour-marathon — was perfect for kicking off christmas eve night.  i’m not religious anymore, but i still appreciate the music and the spirit of the season.  and a christmas story is classic.   right up there alongside national lampoon’s christmas vacation.  ahh the golden years of chevy chase (which admittedly were before this movie).  brings a tear to my eye.

today’s christmas has proved exceptional so far.  i slept until a questionable hour.  i shared highlander grogg with my parents in the kitchen.  we opened gifts we thoughtfully bought for each other.  except my mom, who bought herself a couple and wrapped them up and thanked dad for them.  he was ok with this.  he always is. then dad made his famous breakfast that raised my cholesterol fourteen points.  we called my brother and sister-in-law who live in kansas.  dad called his friend in germany.  and then we settled into the family room with hickory logs on the fire.

now, hickory doesn’t burn nicely.  it pops and sighs and smokes.  i smell like a campfire. 

but we have an abundance of hickory ever since, three years ago, a tornado tore through our subdivision, destroying many neighbors’ homes and carting vehicles from more than 90 miles away.  no joke.  it was scary.  everyone was ok.*  so was everyone in our neighborhood.  even though their homes were not.  and our hickory trees in the woods were goners.

dad spent the last couple years dragging the old trees from the ravine.  i’m sure as he cleared the wreckage for new life to form again that he never thought these once towering monsters would be wreaking havoc as we (again) discussed politics together on christmas afternoon.

as the conversation died down, dad and i moved our lazy carcasses into the garage, where we he balanced my tires with all this newfangled equipment he has “laying around.”  dad’s garage is like a mechanic’s dream.  he has more tools in there than sears.  in fact, it IS sears.  people often show up unannounced asking for a 19mm wrench.  he has a few.  he’s never paid anyone to fix anything, i think.  as a mechanical engineer and economist, i think dad can successfully address the world’s economic and energy issues.  but he would be the worst politician ever, so he’s relegated to manifesting his brilliant ideas at work and in the garage.  and to me, since i may be president someday.  man, he’s so smart.  it’s really disgusting.

anyway, later i brought mom into the basement to show her the glories of itunes for her new nano, which she dad purchased so she could listen to her audiobooks.  i made her come to the apple store with me while visiting virginia last month; originally, she asked for “a walkman” and “books on tape.”  no mother of mine will live in 1987!  (she’s retiring in three days.  that blows my mind.  i’m pretty sure i need to find a way to retire early.  i have lots of ideas.  one of them is bound to work.) she searched the store and downloaded one of her beloved mysteries, then ascended to begin making what was a glorious feast for the evening.  i ate way too much.  good thing i’m headed back to virginia tomorrow.  there are only so many days i can walk around with unbuttoned pants before doing something about it.  and apparently four is my limit.

here’s to more toasts and laughter this evening as life slowly steps from the holiday season into 2008, where more adventures lie waiting to be… adventured.

* including me.  i was at a bar in athens, studying for one of my final finals of my undergraduate career.  on one of the many tv’s at that bar, i saw lots of red graphics over tiffin on the weather channel.  when i got back to my apartment, my roommate was crying.  her mom was in the hospital for some non-tornado-related reason.  she said, through tears, “a tornado hit your house.  your dad is ok.”  then proceeded to keep crying and talking on the phone with her mom.  this is before we had cell phones.  i was panicking. ultimately, dad was out saving the world at that time.  helping neighbors to squad cars and giving reports.  mom was clueless at a conference in columbus.  whoo-ah she really would have been spazzing, so good thing.