Since the blog server’s been down the past few days, I’m gonna do a shortened version of my xmas this year.

Mr. W and I celebrated our personal xmas Thursday evening. I am impressed by how well he had listened to me and remembered small details about my likes and dislikes, as was evidenced in his very thoughtful gifts. I am spoiled sick this year. Sick! Thursday was a wonderful evening, I could not have choreographed a better time. It was low-key and very customized to my taste, with some introductions to new things. I had no idea that hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps is so delicious, it’s like drinking an Andes chocolate mint wafer! I got to mush marshmallows in between my fingers just like I did as a child, and instead of being grossed out, Mr. W handed me the small marshmallows as I went. There were toes warmed by a lit fireplace, Christmas music, candied apples, popcorn, soy eggnog (heavily spiked), and all the “Friends” one could have. Really. All 10 seasons in a wood-cased, boxed set.

Friday after work, I had xmas dinner with my parents and presented my father with his bisected fossil and my mother with her laptop and my parents with their printer/scanner/copier. My parents had gotten me a black leather jacket and a Trader Joe’s giftcard. *Laugh*

Late Friday night, technically 3am Saturday morning, Mr. W and I left for Las Vegas to spend xmas with his parents and extended family. We arrived at approximately 6:45 a.m.. Maybe when I have more time I will blog about the drive. For now, I hope to find more information about what happened on the news. I hope the California Highway Patrol caught the phukker.

Saturday for lunch, Mr. W, his parents and I went to a Chicago pizza joint in Vegas that he’d been raving about for as long as we’d been dating. Apparently this restaurant gets shipments every Monday of authentic Chicago pizza ingredients from their original Chicago restaurant. It was delicious pizza. After lunch, we got back and napped until his relatives started arriving for xmas dinner. I met his two brothers, their families, and his nieces and everybody’s significant others. They’re very warm, nice people, with a passion for debating and great senses of humor. Even off-beat humor, somewhat like mine. But I kept mine under wraps and behaved for the most part. After dinner, we split into teams and played a bunch of Milton Bradley Get-Together games. I was just telling him the other day how I missed board games with old friends who used to play with me. We played Scattergories, DVD Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit, and some other games whose names escape me at the moment. At various times, the laughter became near hyperventillation. And that wasn’t just me. It was so much fun.