It’s still about 10 PM CST over here in Austin so I’m not too late to blather on and wish everyone well as I have with Solstice and Festivus. Tomorrow is Boxing Day and the official kickoff on Twelve Days of Christmas if you know the storyline behind the song. I did learn on NPR about the story behind NORAD tracking Santa. More details are available here. Thanks Mental Floss!
The Apple Festivus Pole!
At the Maggi Republic, Christmas is more about the giving than the receiving or spending time with family. Due to our professions at Apple, Somara has to work since the number of people receiving iPods, iPads and iPhones is rather constant. My team is voluntary because we only answer contract-based calls, ergo, I have revived an old tradition of going to the movies. This year, American Hustle, review to follow in a day or two. Don’t pity us though, what is traditionally called the holiday shutdown period is a time to rake in extra money. The cool stuff we scored for others has to be paid for and we may be implementing an old Puerto Rican move by sending some children late stuff on Epiphany. Somara says kids only care if it’s on Christmas. My rebuttal shared by many parents, with children, any gift from a non-relative, any day is a victory and/or gravy.
The period has been pretty cool for me as well. My new boss Eddie took the week off to be with his family so I am the acting (or what we call backfill) manager until he returns. The cliché is true, third time is a charm. Thanks to a better researched plan and regimen implemented by the higher-ups, management is a more structured gig I can see myself gaining traction with. I get to focus more time on helping with my co-workers’ development versus managing.
Somara’s parents also went to Phoenix last week to be with the middle child’s family. We will have a delayed celebration upon their return. I’m hoping it will be pleasant due to my mother-in-law’s anti-Obama tirades. Being Mormons, I’m confident they took Romney’s well-deserved defeat badly. They should be happy, he has an upcoming documentary on how he blew it on Netflix next month!
OK, even during WWII there was a brief ceasefire for Christmas.
We did have some quick gifts to give each other between doing laundry this morning. I gave Somara a Catwoman Barbie, a pink Muppet and this book (below) for her to fill out. I have one as well. The plan is to exchange them, look ’em over. Like a 10th wedding anniversary and upcoming 15th dating anniversary thing. My anticipation is the lists inside can give me better insight on future presents. Somara says something she bought me will be later. I’m good. The new Prius C covers me for a long time.
I have never seen the movie High Fidelity but making lists is an OCD trait we probably share. The book inspired me to give them to my enigmatic niece and nephew moving to California…then we saw a few categories we knew the parents wouldn’t approve: biggest sins, crushes, favorite teachers. They’re only 11 and 15, it’s a tad early to have an opinion there. So we’re going to create a better, more appropriate (or accurate) version to give all the nieces and nephews. Again, the plan is have a stronger lead on gift giving.
Underneath Listography, I found a music version. This I gave to my concert-music bud Mark (M) and hit at least another Target to buy another. We’ll exchange these later too. These choices will be fun. Mark and I have a lot of respect for each other’s musical choices. Remember, we invented the game “If there’s one band on Earth you hate and they have absolutely not one redeeming song, who? The answer must be right off the top of your head, no mulling it over!” with the follow-up, “Why?” I need to make a sub-page the answers I’ve received. Women tend to agree on Rush or Dave Matthews.
Off to gathering my thoughts for a movie review, pre-made posts, re-read the 2008 entries for the old Six Days of Christmas run I did covering 1978-2003, and start plotting out other runs of stories.
Oh yeah, I did get a great gift from José today…a phone call! It was awesome to hear his voice, talk about crap while he had a brief pause from his in-laws.
Enjoy Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day!