Have Yourself a Merry Christmas From Austin, Texas ~ Parts 4 & 5

Trip Journal Day 4

Today was fun.  We started out making Christmas goodies. Most everything had walnuts in them, which I really don’t like at all. It’s okay. I don’t have to eat them.  I’ve gained so much weight while being here that I really should refrain from doing any extra eating.  I really do plan on making that same New Year’s resolution to lose weight and eat healthy again. 

After the baking we went out to the garage and played ping pong and threw darts.  I must say that I still got it when it comes to throwing darts.  I won most of the games, but I will say that my brother throws a really mean game of darts.  He also plays ping pong like a pro.  I’d love to say that we were evenly matched, but his return could be really hard to hit.  It’s okay, it’s all in good fun.

Eventually, our mom joined us for games.  She’d never played darts before, but I will admit that she did rather well.   She picked up the game rather quickly although we couldn’t talk her into a game of Cricket.  We did play a few 01 games and she did manage to win one.  It was great and she said she had a lot of fun.  She moves great for a woman who just turned 60.

Afterward we went upstairs and I forced myself to play some Star Wars Angry Birds.  I’ll admit that it was more fun that I thought it would be, but I try really hard to stay away from popular conventions such as ridiculous video games.  I suppose I should rethink about some of that, but I always seem to choose a different path for myself.  Regarding the game, I did pretty well.

All in all a decent day.

Trip Journal Day 5

Oh yay, it’s Christmas.  If you’re sensing my absolute sarcasm, you’d be correct.  Christmas actually really doesn’t hold much of a special place in my adult life.  When I was young I loved it just like every other child who celebrates it.  As I got older, though, it was just something to do because social convention dictated that if you didn’t then your kids would grow up to be unhappy….or something.  Actually, there was one year when Erika and I decided to join a charity organization.  That is how we found Soldiers’ Angels.  We did that for a full year, but had to stop because it was getting to be too expensive to send packages and write letters every month.  It was amazing while it lasted, though. 

The day was spent playing darts and ping pong and listening to the others play video games. We didn’t open presents because our mom wanted to wait until my sister and nephew got here.  They should be arriving in about an hour. 

I ate more food yesterday that should be legally allowed.  I know I’ve gained about five to ten pounds at least this last six days.  I swear that I’m going to get back into a more healthy routine when I get home.  And I’m going to do it with or without Titan’s help or encouragement.  That’s a whole other story for a different time though.

Not our table, but close enough.

Christmas dinner was really good.  There was a ham, a turkey, several side dishes and many pies for dessert.  I managed to pass up most of the pie as I am not a fan of pumpkin.  Thankfully, someone had the foresight to purchase an apple pie.  There wasn’t one at Thanksgiving and I was kind of saddened by that.  Conversation was good during dinner.  I had previously printed up twenty random questions in order to get to know my stepsister or her family whom I had not met before this trip.  I think that because I was already so old when my mom and Gary got together that it really didn’t feel like I had gained any extra siblings at all.  I also have a stepbrother whom I haven’t met and really don’t plan to anytime soon.

Overall, yesterday was rather blah.