the wreckage of Christmas
So:
We arrived in Bakersfield, where all three of us promptly got a wicked case of the flu.
LM had it the worst of all of us; in fact, he had to be taken to the local urgent care center on Christmas Eve, where he was diagnosed with not only the flu but also a raging ear infection. This, plus his already-documented teething follies -- there may be more teeth coming now, all at once -- made him the saddest-looking baby alive on Christmas.
While in line at The Skeeviest Walgreen's in Bakersfield, California, waiting for LM's prescription, Mer met Jesus. No, she really did -- not the Spanish Hay-Soos, but the actual person J-E-S-U-S. She'll tell you all about it too... Jesus also took the time on Christmas to proselytize, while waiting for her prescription. The fact that all this happened on Christmas Eve just makes it all the weirder.
We saw a Christmas light display set up almost as a city tourist attraction, which was fairly nice as it was set up within a nearby animal rehabilitation center. Although the company setting up the light display has an unfortunate name given that it's right in the middle of the Kern County Bible Belt, but I still have to give the guy major props: he took what he liked to do more than anything else -- put up traffic-stopping, power-draining displays of lights -- and made his own business out of it while still at a young age.
Christmas itself was very nice in spite of the ravaging fevers we brought down with us. There was much playing with grandparents, and auntie Liz, there was much playing with Puss and Boots (a slightly standoffish, smaller, but cleverer gray kitten, and her puffy, black and white, bigger, affectionately agressive and playful but stupider brother), in spite of the fact that I found out that kittens, especially outdoor ones, make me as severely allergic as I've ever been. It doesn't help that my mom has become a cat mom.
My mom overfed everyone, as usual, so the diet went out the window for the time being, and the gifts were largely inoffensive -- a family Christmas record -- except for 2 items:
1) My dad decided this would be appropriate for an 11-month-old boy. (This became a present for yours truly, who is taking it to work to annoy the hell out of his manager. I will use it to deliver Post-Its in place of email.)
2) The Most Horrible, Horrible Object In The World. The whole sexual pose, combined with the weird warts, gives me nightmares. (Hello, future white elephants. We've got a ringer.)
Continuing on with the weird sexual vibes in this post, my lovely wife told me about the dream she had.
My dad, who has a history of spending a lot of money at Christmastime, outdid himself by getting my mom a very expensive laptop -- hopefully to get her to dump the 3 (!!!) computers -- in various states of disrepair -- she has already, in favor of a slim laptop she can do all her web development work with.
We didn't have time to take advantage of my sister's generous offer to watch LM while we went off to a movie.
I played one game of Lord of the Fries (yes, it's a VERY light card game about zombies making fast food), 1 game of Tikal, and 1 game of the infamous Ticket to Ride. (I got my ass handed to me in Tikal by my sister and my mate.)
My sister endeared herself to me -- proving that there was some common thread in our upbringing -- by saying "yeah, the simple ones are nice, but I like the complex ones more; they give you more to do." This was her one-sentence review of Tikal. However, she also said her boyfriend tends to squirm if she tries to introduce him to complexity in gaming evenings -- a trait he sometimes shares with the Divine Miss M.
LM recovered on the last day we were there; he became his smiley self once more, and engaged in a lot of standing, and one or two shows of guided walking ability. There was also at least one reported incident of rudimentary crawling. Standing is becoming his New Favorite Thing to do, which is both a boon and a curse for yours truly.
It was all over too quickly, especially because I was a bit crazy and brought a zillion games with us in hopes of playing more with my sister. Also because my family didn't really get to see the 3 of us in anything approaching a healthy state. Also because neither M or myself really got much time to fucking RELAX apart from maybe the board games we played. Ah well. New Year's is coming, and with it a blessed day off.