I was disappointed to find today that the local bagel shop (run by a Chinese family) will be closed tomorrow. As will the nearest Chinese restaurant.

Further proof that life in the suburbs has its drawbacks (and not enough pushforwards).

We are done here at home, getting ready to head to The Old People's for breakfast. The girls are back in their cages after romping through the flying wrapping paper. Santa brought us our new AP's so we are now trying to figure out when we can head south. Nickolas has been trying out Mario Party 7 and David just took off in search of coffee. PoohDog is enjoying his annual chewy candy cane. I am trying to figure out where to put my WDCC Rescuers set. LOL just looked at the girls and the 2 floor rats are totally zonked.

Happy EVERYTHING to 1 and all!!!

Happy Christmas, Merry New Year!

We ended up finally getting around to seeing Harry Potter. It's a bit creepy to be at the Spectrum on a Saturday night while it's nearly deserted.

Tonight Hanukkah begins. We'll be going to my family's traditional Christmas night Hanukkah/December birthday party (there are about 9 people with December birthdays, so this is just easier). And then tomorrow is my sister's actual birthday (or "Jennmas" if you ask her). Much celebrating to be had.

Hope everyone's have been wonderful so far, and will continue to be wonderful right on through the new year!

We failed to get out to IHOP for the traditional bonding with fellow grinches and losers. I forgot that Lani needed to go into work for a few hours today so I went and caught a movie and then played 45 minutes of Sopranos pinball in the lobby.

Maybe we'll have IHOP for dinner, though by Christmas evening the loser/grinch component is mostly gone as people are trying to escape their.

Our Santa gift today appears to be a problem in the cars electrical system that wasn't there as of 10pm last night. And since we have a hybrid vehicle electrical problems are bothersome. And since we are starting a backroads drive to Vegas on Tuesday, it is doubly bothersome. Hopefully the dealership can either quickly diagnose and fix tomorrow or at least assure us that it'll survive the trip.

So far a very nice Christmas weekend.

I think I like our Santa gift a lot more than yours, Alex.




Oh, and the rats are still asleep.

I just put Alice and Jim Hill on a plane to Boston. They'll be back Jan. 5, and my parents will be back two hours after they get here.

I am so going after this house while everyone's gone. Putting up shelves, steaming carpets and furniture, redoing shelf paper...the stuff you can't do when the rest of the family's around, really. Huzzah. I miss her, though.

I got an extra Christmas treat this year thanks to the Mouse. Dylan had to work very early Christmas morning so he decided to skip his dad's family's get together on Christmas Eve (he didn't want to drive to Riverside County and back). So we spent Christmas Eve together for the first time in I don't know how many years. We exchanged gifts, watched "Pee Wee's Christmas Special," and relaxed.

Christmas morning I made my usual stop at my favorite anti-Starbucks since the family dinner was in the late afternoon. A few firefighters were hanging out (the Long Beach Fire Department runs on caffeine) and when the occasional kid would come in with their parents a fireman would run out to the truck for a toy to present to the kid. I think the firemen were enjoying it more than the kids.

:)

I got an extra present. Fifty bucks and a part-time website job (yeah, the old one, he opened the company up again) that won't interfere with my Tiki Tours business. Nice!