A year of new and old traditions, by necessity.

Yesterday Ed and I went biking around the lake, then the three of us went to see a movie (Juno, which we all liked a lot). After the movie we had a drink in the theater bar waiting for it to get dark so we could drive around Highland Park and look at Christmas lights. The lights were good, although not funny like the lights in Woodland Heights in Houston.

This year we had our fondue outside by the firepit, which was nice. We had chocolate fondue, too. We had our karaoke Santa hooked up to my iPod playing Christmas carols in the dining room. Every year when we do this, I forget I have The Santaland Diaries in my Christmas playlist, and crack up when I walk in to see Santa lipsyncing to David Sedaris.

Ed decided to line the sidewalk and porch with tealights for some reason. It looked pretty. And wasn’t the full moon beautiful?
We had a modest Christmas morning this year, having gotten some of our presents early (spinning bike for Ed and me, plane ticket to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl for Erica), but Santa still brought a few things so we’d have things to play with today. Erica and Ed were surprised to find a Wii under the tree. Erica opened the Wii and said “ooh, now we need to get Guitar Hero”. Luckily, Santa had left Guitar Hero III, too! We also got some books, DVDs, cold weather bike gear, a large Buddha statue, a sailboat cover, a homemade candle, a high-tech cooking thermometer, a packaging opener, CDs, gift certificates, iPod accessories, straws to play with, and more. Oh, and Erica got all of the “good players” and the coach of the UT football team to sign a helmet for Ed, which is something he has wanted.
We had Christmas dinner with our neighbors across the street, who have lived there forever and tend to collect various neighbors for holidays. They probably had about twenty people come and go during the afternoon. Somebody in their family had received a ping pong table for Christmas, so they set it up in the front yard (temporarily) and held an informal tournament.

Now we’re back home, Ed is napping, Erica is playing Guitar Hero, and I am contemplating my next (and possibly last) move in the online Risk game I am playing with a few friends. Merry Christmas, everyone!