Christmas '08

Ahhhh, Christmas '08. Our two weeks in Utah with family were very relaxing. I didn't get to hang with my sisters as much this year--3 of the 4 were working a lot at a seasonal coat store, and 2 had in-town boyfriends (one who turned into a fiance Christmas Day)--but good times were had. I slept and ate a lot, played some games, and saw four movies, all of which I'd recommend:

-Ghost Town (with Ricky Gervais from the British Office--funny and also touching)
-Young at Heart (documentary about a group of old people who sing modern songs)
-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
-Wall-E (I wasn't sure I liked this one at first, but it grew on me. I think we'll end up owning it as My Boy watched it about 4 times in 2 days--Happy Valentine's!)

Favorite gifts

My new ipod Touch is really awesome. And My Husband found a small, $17 speaker system at Marshall's that meets my requirement for having something very portable so I can listen to my music and Armstrong and Getty podcasts anywhere in the apartment. The Touch also holds several movies, which I wanted for backup when My Boy is driving me nuts somewhere (restaurants especially. How I miss the days when he would be entertained sitting in one place and chewing on a straw for 30 minutes!) It's already come in handy, and he's shockingly good at navigating it. The Internet access and cool applications are great too.



It may not be his very favorite gift this year, but I was excited to find the shirt below for My Husband from Mama Robot on http://www.etsy.com/ (an overwhelming but great website where people sell handmade goods). I have a tradition of giving him a funny/quirky t-shirt each Christmas, and I knew he'd like this cartoony robot dad giving a shoulder ride to his robot kid.



I also spent some time at Macy's one day sniffing about every men's cologne they had, then went home and found a new bottle of Versace Man for $20 less on Ebay. Me likey--hubba hubba!

My Boy got lots of great stuff--too much (I keep telling my mom she'd better tone it down because she can't possibly keep this up when she has more than one grand child). But I think the winner was the Buzz Lightyear gun from two of the aunties:



I debated on approving this purchase beforehand--it's hard to know if/when to encourage your gun-crazed little boy these days--but I caved because I knew he'd love it. He definitely did and almost wouldn't open anything else. It makes different space age-type laser sounds and doesn't seem as threatning as some guns. Perhaps there's still a chance he won't end up a juvenille delinquent.

Of course the snow was a highlight of the vacation too:



Trying to play on the playground despite the snow and bulky outfit:



With his one and only cousin being pulled by Grandpa (My Husband's dad):