Before this dance is through, I'm going to love you, too

I had a nice Christmas, in case you were wondering. If you were, well I feel positively shameful that it has taken me this long to enlighten you. You can relax now; go heat up your coffee, put on some loose-fitting clothes, sit before your computer and settle in to what is going to be a very satisfying reading experience. Go ahead, I'll wait.

My Christmas:

My day began at my parent's house. I arrived early, around ten, so that I could trouble shoot some issues they were having with their computer. Their main problem was that they couldn't log on to their Yahoo account. That took less than twenty eight seconds to remedy. I helped them with a couple more things and then, because they were interested, I showed them the wonderful and mysterious world of Facebook. Their interest was generated from my mother's conversation with one of her coworkers, who told her how much fun she had playing Farmville on the website. Perusing Facebook with my parents was a tiny bit surreal, like worlds colliding, but mostly it was fun giving them the guided tour, which, as I conducted it, made me realize how cool the site is.

My sister and her family arrived shortly after our Facebooking. Kids everywhere, screaming with Christmas exuberance. My four year old niece, Colleen, was given a camera. She stood in the middle of the room while the rest of us opened presents and ran down a list of the people she wanted to gather before her and pose for a picture. My name was absent from the list. My dad picked up on it and kept asking her "What about Kevin?". To which she replied, in a dismissive tone, "No, just the girls". Considering there were three males on her list, I found her reply to be unacceptable. Funny, my sister's kids have a way of shunning me throughout the early portions of our encounters. Maybe she's poisoning them against me. If she is, it's not working: her kids always end up glued to my side, basking in the light of my pure heart.

My parent's gave me a GPS. I was surprised, but thankful. It may turn out, God forbid, that the GPS will be useless to me if my car shits the bed. I guess I could carry it in my pocket as I walk everywhere. Ah, let's hope this scenario does NOT come to pass.

After my parent's, we headed to my grandmother's house, where there were more children, maybe eight in total. My sister and I watched them all running around and reflected on how most of the adults in the room used to be those little kids, doing the same things in this very house. Won't be much longer, I'm sad to say, that we celebrate holidays there.

I'm not going to lie to you, I ate my fair share of food that day, most of it not necessarily good for me. So what, that's what you do on Christmas. I brought food home, so did Janelle. As far as I can tell, there's no way to get rid of it except to eat it. We've got our work cut out for us.

Overall, it was a good Christmas. Always nourishing being around friends and family.

Yesterday, I went to Spira's for breakfast. Her friends Ava and Hiyanne (sp) ate with us. Eggs, bacon, spinach pie, coconut coffee, more bacon = yum! I caught Ava looking at me at one point and, after telling me she liked my energy,she asked me what sign I was. I gave her three guesses but she couldn't figure out I was Cancer. She thought I had more of an edge than most Cancers. I told her it had more to do with my pure heart. Ok, I didn't tell her that.

Hung out with Mara last night. We watched Doubt, a film we both enjoyed. Want to see incredible acting? No, really, do you? Ok, well, go watch this movie -- now! Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, or Phil Hoffman, as I call him because we're pretty much best friends -- that's an all-star lineup.

Today, I drove to Burlington and burned through some gift cards. I picked up a Lyn McTaggert book, a new blouse and a pair of dungarees, some groceries. Not all at the same store, you understand. I shelled out about three dollars for the book and clothes after redeeming my gift cards. I like it when that happens.

I also used up a gift card at Newbury Comics and picked up the latest Animal Collective cd, which, after one listen, is very good, and the latest offering by the Dirty Projectors, which is very, very good. I'm positive it will be a favorite of mine for a long, long, long, long time to come. That's a long time, son!

And tomorrow, I'm seeing Avatar at the Omni theater in Reading. I'm pretty excited about this one.

I suppose I need to get rolling with the year end awards before the year ends. Stay tuned, you're going to LOVE it.