Merry Christmas everybody!
It was kind of a long day today actually. Let’s see, the Ho and I took the pups on a walk. We did that after I’d taken a shower…I can’t remember if she’d taken a shower or not, but it was the right time to take them out, because about a half hour after we got back inside, it started raining.
It didn’t rain all that long, but there was a section of time where it POURED rain. In sheets with giant drops. That was all very dramatic to watch outside. Liz’s parents’ house is entirely lined on one side with floor-to-ceiling windows, and so you can see it very theatrically what is going on outside.
Much of the afternoon was just kind of putzing around. Julianne and her boyfriend Jon arrived mid-afternoon, and then after some hanging out, we all went down to the shopping center in Burlingame, which is something that Liz’s mom had wanted to do for a couple days, actually. So, we went down and did that. The rain and the wind had really cooled things down by then and it was downright chilly as we were walking around.
We all hit a wall hunger-wise shortly after we’d arrived, so we went to Delfina Pizza, which we’d gone to before we flew out to Maui earlier in the year, and we shared a single pizza between the six of us, with some drinks. Then Daddy Ho and Mama sped off to start the final preparations for the smoked turkey we were going to eat for dinner, and us kids stayed behind to check out a couple stores before we followed suit.
Then, we came home together and Liz and I walked the pups again. It was dinner not too long after that, and holy bejeezus was it delicious. The Ho smoked turkey is legitimately out of control, and I’m not even making that shit up. So, yeah, dinner was delicious.
Theeeeennn…we were all set up to watch The Interview, which we’d rented from YouTube, but we realized that we had no way to set up Jon’s Apple TV without the original remote. Doh! There was no getting around it, unfortunately. So, instead, we watched Boyhood. The movie isn’t without its faults here and there, but overall…goddamn it’s a charming movie. And poignant…and just really, really good. It made me think a lot about me growing up…how much I feel like I changed in the span of, like, five maybe six years. It’s absolutely one of the best movies of the year, and honestly one of the most impressive and inventive movies *ever* because of how they filmed it; the movie spans 11 years, and so they filmed over the span of 11 years. I mean, that’s freaking awesome. Seeing this kid grow up…it was crazy. Really, really, really good movie. It’s not the concept that made it good, it was insightful dialogue, (mostly) well-written and acted scenes, and above all a continuous sense of humor throughout.
Boyhood and Birdman are, of the movies I’ve seen so far, the two best movies of the year, and they’re both genuinely fantastic.
The Ho and I just bonded over the fact that on the one hand, it sucks to have cold feet in bed, but on the other hand, it just doesn’t feel right to wear socks in bed. It’s a conundrum!
It was fun, all of us sitting down and watching a movie together, having dinner together, going down to the shopping center together…it was fun to do family stuff on Christmas Eve. I’m really going to miss my brother Scott this year for Christmas. He’s staying out in Chicago this year, it’s just to hard to travel this year, and I will really miss him. I guess I just become more and more aware as I get older how special it is to have family all together like when we were kids when everyone is spread across such distances and living their own lives.
Anyway…I’m very grateful to have spent such a nice family day today on Christmas Eve, and to be getting to see my family tomorrow after a travel day up north. And then, bam, this trip is almost over. Crazy. Time flies faster and faster, doesn’t it?
Tomorrow, kids, after Santa has done his work. I bet he’s flying over the Rockies right about now. Good night!