1.01.2006

How I Spent My Christmas Vacation

Friday. A night at the movies -- at home … Kates and I rented ‘The Graduate ’ as preparation to see ‘Rumor Has It’ (which we never did see) and ‘Upside of Anger.’ … Of the two, it’s easy to see why ‘The Graduate’ has survived and regarded as a classic. For the most part, the performances, especially Dustin Hoffman, are terrific, and the way the movie was filmed -- even with the late ‘60s feel -- was quite intriguing. Top it all off with the wonderful music from Simon & Garfunkel and … yeah. Great movie. ... 'Upside of Anger' on the other hand. A couple good scenes, but mostly it left too many plotlines unfinished, I thought.

Saturday. Christmas Eve. … We ran errands, wrapped Christmas presents and took in a wonderful and inspirational 5:30 service at our church … we opened gifts -- and yes, folks, (cue angel chorus) I am now the proud owner of a white 30GB video iPod. We had our Christmas dinner -- a frozen pizza (with cheese, sausage & pepperoni) grilled to perfection in our oven. … By 9 p.m. we were driving to the in-laws for an 11 p.m. church service. … and in bed by 1 a.m.

Sunday. Christmas Day. … a gluttony of presents under the tree. And Santa was good. Many books …and lots of candy in our stockings. There was a break from the presents for more church, and then of course, more presents … the afternoon disappeared and soon the extended family was joining us for a turkey dinner, another agonizing Packers loss and, more presents.…And by 8 p.m. we were off to my parents. There we shared great conversation, decent TV and, more presents. In bed, a little before 1 a.m.

Monday. The day after Christmas. … We toured the Madison capitol building and gazed at the giant Christmas tree ...

... We strolled through Madison’s East Towne Mall for food, and iPod accessories …and a couple hours later through Milwaukee‘s Mayfair Mall (a.k.a. Yuppy Central) for the iPod accessories we didn’t find at the first mall. … home by 8 p.m.…and filling my iPod until 1 a.m.

Tuesday. Chicago. … We drove into the city amid sun, with a burning desire to see and do all the things we hadn’t had time or energy to do yet this holiday season …

We gazed at the gigantic Christmas tree in Daly plaza and the windows of Marshall Field‘s -- which led to me following Kates inside Marshall Field’s for trying on lots of shoes …

We were walking through Millennium Park as the sun set …

... and to Navy Pier, where we strolled through the gardens, the shops and a walk to the tip of the pier, and then a tasty Mexican dinner back in the peace and serenity of the garden …and filling my iPod (while waiting for a load of laundry to finish) until 3 a.m.

Wednesday. The farm…We had McDonald’s on the way out of town and then stopped at Grandma’s house for a mid-afternoon snack (barbecue) before heading on to indulge in laughter and togetherness at the farm. …We stayed up ‘til almost 2:30 a.m. trenched deep in a game of Phase 10 that should go down as legendary in family lore -- I surged ahead to start off the game, reaching Phase 5 in the first five hands and leaving everybody else at Phase 3 or lower. But I Phase 5 would be my home for the next six hands, as the other players caught up and passed me. That trend continued through the rest of the game with several players surging ahead and then falling flat on various phases (Kates on Phase 6 for seven straight hands and Sara remained there for eight straight hands). It culminated with Orrin coming from behind to reach the final phase, 10, but alas, he would remain there for five hands until all of us landed on Phase 10 -- together the way we had started some four hours earlier. On Orrin’s sixth ‘Phase 10’ hand, Kates laid the cards down and won. …

Thursday. Still at the farm. … Sleeping ‘til 10. Had breakfast at noon. Drove the five-mile loop of farms that make up Richland County, stopping at an Amish furniture store and an antique store on the way. …A mid-afternoon lunch of leftover Chinese takeout that Kates and I brought ….We watched 'Love Actually' (and I cried) …then a late supper (chicken sandwiches) …and a game of Spinner that was soon aborted when we realized we hadn’t been following the rules and ice cream took precedent. ….What followed that was an interesting pouring over views and thoughts that started with the question: What’s the biggest issue we’ll face in the next 30 years. …The question was inspired by John’s reading of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s autobiography of Abraham Lincoln … John said war with China. Kates said religion. I said terrorism …we talked candidates for the next presidential election. We talked natural disasters. And city planning. And heaven and visions. …and I fell asleep on the couch.

Friday. Still at the farm … a late Christmas dinner with the Perry family. More presents … and an early bed time for all of us.

Saturday. New Year’s Eve. … Kates and I made the trek from the farm back home. Unpacked. Showered. And were on our way to Chicago within two hours later to meet our pals Steve, Emily, Glen, Heather and others to celebrate the night away. Great conversation. Great music. Good food. … With about 30 minutes left in 2005, we had settled into a luxurious fourth-floor Jefferson Park condo with a picture perfect view of the Chicago skyline (only on this night it was just foggy enough to almost hide the Sears tower). We counted down the minutes on the host’s computer (which was hooked up to a projector that splashed it in big-screen form across the dining room wall) … and then moved onto the cold balcony where the 10 of us huddled together, clanked our wine glasses and watched in awe as four separate fireworks splashed across the foggy Chicago night sky. … After a raucous game of ‘Scene It,’ we were home a little before 3 a.m. Happy New Year.

Sunday. My last day of vacation. … The unpacking. The coming back to reality. The depression of knowing that this vacation went by too fast and I must return to my job tomorrow …

1 comment:

duff said...

the northwest missourian is a favorite read, huh?

i'm part of nwmsu's class of 2000.