Thursday, December 27, 2007

Surviving Christmas...

is always a neat trick, but so far (knock on my wooden head) this year has been easier than some I remember!

We still ended up wrapping until 2AM, then since we were going to John and Noel's around noon for Christmas with them and the grandkids, we exchanged gifts when we were done wrapping everyone else's. She finally got her "Heroes: Season 1" set, and was delighted as it also has the "pilot" movie they never ran in it...

I on the other hand, was shocked!

I had told her a couple of times that I had thought of buying a Playstation 2 game to take to the family New Year's party next week, or the family Christmas party this Saturday. I couldn't bring myself to spend the money, though...

So imagine my shock when she hands me this big box...that rattles...

We've had some problems this year with things that rattle, whether it was the "Babylon 5" set I gave her for our anniversary, or the "Stargate: Atlantis" set she got for her birthday last month. That one took two returns to get one that didn't have a scratched disc in it!

As I pulled the paper off the box though, and opened it, the wireless guitar for "Guitar Hero" was just fine...as was the game. We spent 'til 4AM playing with it. The first two rounds she actually beat my score using the hand control...I went 0 for 360 in the first full song I tried! Seems that, not having read the instructions, I plugged the wireless reader into the "hand control 2" slot, so when she picked up the hand control, she started beating my first few efforts.

I took it to John's house yesterday; Bill and Laura came as well (having them both manage to get off work was a treat) and Bill, John and I took turns, then each grandchild took one turn. After that we 3 "boys" played for about 3 hours...

I was told to bring it to my sister's on Saturday for the family party. So it seems all the stories are true, it's quite the party game!

Today I finally gave up and backed my old Gateway up then updated it to SP2 and IE7. It took 12 hours of starts and restarts, but all seems well now. When Dottie got off work, she and I had to return 2 pair of Talia's jeans, and when we found the ones we needed, we found enough clothes to finish off her birthday shopping as well (coming up later next month). By the time we finished that and got home it was 10 when she got in the shower and I started dinner; we ate and finally caught up with "Battlestar Galactica: Razor" from a few weeks ago. Good movie, great series!

Tomorrow she works again, I have to wrap the gifts for the party on Saturday (along with tracking down one last one), and then Friday we are hoping the weather cooperates and we can slip off to a movie or two for the first time in a month, starting my birthday a day early as the family Christmas party is on Saturday, the actual day of my 52nd. If we survive that, we're planning to try to keep the grandkids Saturday night and Sunday so John and Noel can have a date night, then on Monday we'll have the November, December and January birthdays celebration at my sister's (there are 5 of us between Thanksgiving and the middle of January), along with New Years Eve.

I'm sorry to be slipping behind with all of your blogs this last week; the whirlwind shows no signs of slowing yet, but it will and I will catch up soon! You are all in my thoughts, and sometimes I swear I can hear a chuckle or two from some of you! In the meantime, I very much hope the week is being kind and that you all have wonderful and very Happy New Years!

alan

14 comments:

Jennifer said...

That may have been me you heard chuckling. I came so CLOSE to buying Guitar Hero for the family, but (here's the funny part) I couldn't honestly remember if we own the right console. THAT's how much I know about what they're all doing in the family room!

Happy be-earlied birthday, Alan. Rock on!

JLee said...

Glad you had a good Xmas Alan. I got my daughter Guitar Hero for Wii and of course I had to play it for a while! lol

Doris said...

It sounds great! I hadn't heard of the guitar game .... do you actually need to know how to play the guitar to use it?

I hope the festive cheer continues for you and yours and may this easier than usual Christmas extend into a fabulous New Year and and a great year ahead with love, health and happiness. :-)

taza said...

happy day-before-your-birthday to you,
happy day-before-your-birthday to you,
happy day-before-your-birthday, dear Alan,
happy day-before-your-birthday to you!

hope it's the best year yet!

:)
taza

HAR said...

Alan,
May your 52nd year be your very best! Happy birthday to a wonderful human being.

fineartist said...

My boys, the little ones and the big ones, have been partying like rock stars around here too. Guitar hero rules, raah! heh.

Hey have a great birthday Alan "Hendrix"!

xx

puhpaul said...

Merry Christmas Alan!

Each year we have a Gym Riot before Christmas where the school is divided into 4 teams and an afternoon is spent playing all sorts of weird and wonderful games. This year someone brought in their Guitar Hero. It was the most popular game we had. The kid's basically had to fight for the right to play for their team.

paul

KellyNerd said...

Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero... do you have any idea how many blogs I am reading about this Guitar Hero??? I think I may have to buy one and see what all the fuss is about!

Minerva said...

And I have never even HEARD of it..
Clearly something I will have to look into..

Minerva

JLee said...

Happy New Year Alan!

mckait said...

What taz said!


Also, I am exhausted just reading this... lol

We have christmas birthdays, too.
my son n the 27, my niece on the 28, and her husband on 30th. I hate cake!!!!!!!!

( pretty sure that I will get over that...)

then my b-i-l and stepdad and nephew on jan 12 and 14.

ew

I am exhausted again.

well....

Have fun with your new toy and all of your parties! and take a nap!

ryssee said...

Happy Birthday, Alan!
Randy got the Wii a couple weeks ago. The games are a blast. So far we have only broken one glass and hit the table hard only one time.
Guitar Hero has been played once but only 'cause we've been busy running around too.
Sounds like you and Dottie have been really busy! Hope you get to have a nice relaxing New Years.

Green tea said...

Hope you had a great birthday..
I wish I was 52 again... :D

Kranki said...

Happy Belated Birthday! I can't believe I missed it. And Happy New Years as well. At least I got that day right!