2005-12-24 - 1:15 a.m.
BRRRRRRRRRRR
Boy, is it cold! Oh my goodness. About a week ago it snowed for the first time and I didn't leave the house for the entire day. I stayed inside, snuggled under blankets, and ate tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and drank hot cocoa. Just like you're supposed to. But the next day I had to go out and, man, MAN, was it cold out. It was like 6 degrees.
I turned on the Weather Channel for my Local On The 8's before I left, and it described the conditions as "bitterly cold". I don't think I've ever seen them use that kind of negative adjective before. Maybe I don't pay enough attention, but it always seems like they just say "very hot", "very cold", whatever. "Bitterly cold" was a new one for me. Maybe we'll get new ones this summer, too. "Today's forecast: hotter than a crotch".
And while I'm on the subject, when did the Weather Channel voice guy go from saying "here is the forecast for your area" to "here is the forecast for OUR area"? Our area? What, is he my neighbor now? Did he move down the street? I think not.
Anyway, it was freezing. My hands ached for like an hour after I got back home, that's how cold it was. I made the mistake of opting for some slick looking leather gloves instead of my reliable, trusty, furry gloves, and they did not keep my hands warm in the slightest. I chose appearance over performance and I paid for it dearly. I will never doubt my furry gloves again.
Then, about 3 days after that, it was 60 degrees. From 6 to 60. Crazy. Then it snowed again on Sunday and there's still snow everywhere at the moment, although it's starting to melt. I'd like to see it hang around long enough to be snowy for Christmas, but I don't think it's gonna make it.
Speaking of Christmas, it's almost here. Yay, Christmas! My Christmas is kinda weird this year. You see, since I was about 15, in lieu of lots of presents under the tree, my parents have just given me money and let me buy what I want with it. That probably sounds rather unfestive, but it stems from this time when I was 14 that I got some video game system for Christmas... it was like a Sega 32X or something. I don't think it lasted too long in the grand scheme of gaming systems.
I hadn't really asked for it, and I couldn't get it to play right on our TV, and we decided that we'd have to take it back. And my mom said we could switch it for another one, or, if I wanted, we could take the few hundred dollars that it cost and go shopping elsewhere and I could spend the money on other stuff. I guess she sensed that I wasn't too enthused about it. I actually did get the 32X to work, but it was queer and by then I had already become attached to my mom's idea of spending the money on whatever I wanted.
So we took the game back and then hit a few stores and I picked stuff out and spent the money. It was fun. After that, we started doing it every year, with my mom telling me how much I could spend and then us going shopping together. But once I started college, they just gave me the money and I bought the stuff myself. By then I could buy everything a lot easier on the internet anyway.
That's certainly what I expected to do this year, but a few weeks ago my mom tells me right out of the clear blue sky that she wants me to make up a Christmas list and that I'm going to have presents under the tree on Christmas morning. Which is fine, don't get me wrong, but my parents have no idea what to get me. So anything under the tree will surely come off my list, meaning there's not a whole lot of suspense involved in this.
It was a curious development, though, and Charity speculated that it might be my mom's unique way of telling us she wants grandkids. If that theory holds true, she’ll probably drop some hint while we’re there... like she wouldn’t have to treat me like a little kid on Christmas if there were actual little kids around.
There's been a fairly unsettling pattern in the Christmas gifts we've gotten over the past few years, with relatives using their presents to drop hints that it's time for us to get working on babies. I guess both of our families have decided that we're their only hope for a baby in the near future. Charity's sister has been married for a few years now and... to put it delicately, since my sweetums will probably read this... she's not really the mothering type. I just cannot see her sister actually being in charge of another human life. In fact, the very thought scares me. My sister is the mothering type, but she's never been the marrying type, so there's nothing on the horizon with her either. Plus, one of them is on the east coast and one's on the west, while Charity and I are here in the middle near everybody.
A few years ago I got a very nice digital camcorder from my aunt, who made a point of explaining that she thought we could use it because she'd seen a show about a guy who used the very same product to record all kinds of Baby's First Moments and make DVDs and send them to relatives. Hint, hint. As I recall, we were 23 and still unmarried at the time of this gift.
We took the camcorder on our honeymoon in Europe, though, and I made a DVD of the stuff we saw on our trip that we gave to relatives. We actually took two, one to film the sights and whatnot, and one to film stuff that's just for us. That sounds kinda dirty, but that's not what I mean. Just private stuff, like those sappy newlywed "what made you want to marry me?" conversations while you're laying there together, which you can watch back when you're 40 and you can't stand each other anymore. On our anniversary we watched our wedding DVD, and our trip DVD, and our personal DVD. It was very nice.
How the hell did I start talking bout all that? Where was I? Ah yes, suspicious gifts. Last year, we got handmade Christmas stockings from Charity's grandmother, one that says "Jake" and one that says "Charity"... and two that say "Mommy" and "Daddy", plus three smaller stockings with no names. HINT, HINT. This year I'm half expecting an instructional sex tape and an ovulation calendar.
So I guess we’ll find out if my mom’s odd behavior is falling into this same pattern. Everyone can just chill the heck out about this baby business as far as I'm concerned. We don’t even have good health coverage or anything at the moment. Shouldn’t we probably get that taken care of before worrying about a baby? Yes, I believe that would be prudent.
I had other stuff I was going to talk about, but I think I've rambled on enough for one entry. MERRY CHRISTMAS. HAPPY NEW YEAR.
