family Christmas.....

A Merry Christmas to all. Hope you had a wonderful holiday, and were able to enjoy it in the way you wanted. As you can see, Cassie enjoyed her morning, as did Morgan and myself. We also really enjoyed the rest of our day. To tell the truth, even though it was only the three of us, it may have been the best Christmas Day ever.

It started with some presents. As I stated in an earlier post, Morgan and I made it a smaller than usual Christmas in the way of physical presents, and I think it worked wonderfully. Cassie got what she wanted in a small sum, and really enjoyed all of it. My family still went a little overboard, but even that was not as much as usual. Hopefully, next year, we can get them to go along with the "smaller" plan.

After the gifts, we had a very nice breakfast together, then went for a walk as a family. It of course helps that it was close to 70 degrees here in San Diego. After that Morgan went for a drive in her car, and Cassie and I played a bit outside with the basketball.

One of the games Cassie received from Santa was The Game of Life: Twists and Turns. We seem to collect these Life games as we have the original, a SpongeBob edition, a Pirates of the Caribbean edition, and now this new one. But, let me tell you, this may be the best edition yet. It has been updated, and all records are kept in the "spinner". You put in a "credit card" on your turn, hit some buttons, and everything is kept for you. Even though it is 9 and older, I think it is a game kids that like games could play at even seven years.

We also played a few more games of Scene It. It is a game that many people have played on their DVD player, but now it is for the XBOX 360. The version available right now is movies, but I am sure there will be television, sports and music editions in the future. Morgan is such a movie watcher, that she is really doing well in the games, and Cassie, even though she has not seen many of the movies, is also doing well.

Morgan roasted a Prime Rib for dinner, and was it good. It was good perfectly. The piece was so large, that we will have dinner off it for a few more days. She also made a creamed spinach and a cauliflower dish that I really love.

We thought we were done with our day, so Cassie and I were going to play some Rock Band. Morgan came in and asked if she could join us. She had never taken an interest in the game, and has been "making fun" of my guitar playing on the air, and Cassie and I playing since we got it. She took the other guitar to play bass. That was 7:30pm. Next thing you know it is 12:30am, and she still wants to play. Cassie was exhausted, and my fingers were hurting from 5 hours of "strumming", but she wanted to keep going. We decided to quit for the night, but get back to playing ASAP. Morgan also got into making her own "rock character" for the screen including white hair, and tattoos. It was an absolute great time for all of us.

Between the new Life game, and Scene It game and Rock Band for the XBOX, I think we will be spending a lot more time playing together, and I think it is great. Now you know why I call it the best Christmas Day I can remember.

I spoke with my family during the day, and Morgan with hers. No incidents to report, for a change, so that also helped make the day go well. The only "grump", was my brother Chris, but that was because Christmas Day was his 40th birthday.

Casey and I sent text messages to one another most of the day. He had a nice time with his wife and family. Next year it all changes, as they will have a 10 month old around to celebrate Christmas with. I told him that next year will be fun, but wait until 2009, with an almost 2 year old. Those times are a blast.

I did not get to speak with Kellie, but I did talk with her daughter. When I got off the phone, I commented to Morgan, that she has always been polite and proper, but she was so mature in her conversation with me. She told me that she and her brother had a wonderful day.

We also received a call and email from Yvette, an old friend of Morgan's. They knew each other back around 1989 when Morgan worked at a rock station on Long Island. I used to go into the city where Yvette lived, and take care of her business books and taxes. Well, it comes to be that her husband is from San Diego, and they are in town for the holiday, so we will be have lunch on Thursday afternoon. Morgan has not seen her since we left NY in 1993, and I have not seen her since 1995. It should be fun.

Tonight, Morgan and Cassie are seeing the stage production of High School Musical. I am sure that they will have a great time, and Cassie will sing the lyrics to every song.

I am going to post some Disney pictures in a separate post to keep them all in one place and away from this Christmas post.

Until the next time.....