Christmas has come and gone and it’s now in the record books. This past week definitely seemed to fly by, as they always tend to when you’re off from work, but with so much going on at the same time, it was definitely a full seven days.
As I said before, we were done work on Wednesday, December 22 and we’ve had the last seven days off before coming back today, Thursday the 30th. What’s cool is that we’re here today, tomorrow but then taking Monday off for a long weekend since it’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow! Neat way to get back into the office mindset but have some extra time to recharge the batteries for a new year.
Things were hectic that night of December 22, as I hadn’t packed for Calgary yet and had gifts to wrap. Ultimately, I just sorted out the clothes I wanted to take and instead chose to relax with the knowledge of knowing that work was a blissful week away and watch Christmas Vacation, with Chevy Chase. A holiday classic, indeed. Only now though do I realize that I neglected that other soulful Christmas movie, Die Hard.
Again, hectic was putting it lightly the next morning as everybody was running around packing, showering and making sure we didn’t forget anything before the drive out to Calgary. I thought it was pretty cool that I got an early Christmas present, but it only made sense before making the trip as it was exactly what I’ve sorely needed – a new coat. A new black leather coat, to be precise. And then my mother handed me her credit card and told me to reactivate my Sirius radio subscription as a last-minute present. Finally, Mom handed me a check for $100 for creating posters and doing promotion for all the past events at her bar in the last year. Needless to say, I was a happy SOB and we hadn’t even drove out to Calgary yet.
The drive was good and actually, the weather for the entire trip was fantastic. The days were sunny and the roads were dry. My brother and I stayed at my oldest brother Jim’s in Calgary while Mom and Dad stayed at a motel since Dad’s mobility is still a bit of an issue. (Long story short: he had knee replacement surgery in July and at his age of 77, it was probably a few years too late and for now he gets by with a rolling walker)
Brendon and I made that Hart House trip on Christmas Eve, driving out there in the afternoon to discover that the home had indeed been sold and some presumably rich-as-Hell family is living there. Unfortunately, this meant that Brendon could not get the up-close-and-personal look at the house that I got in August, but he seemed pretty happy and fired off a few photos that he’ll no doubt make his Facebook profile pictures.
We visited the grave site of Owen Hart as well and did a little snow removal around the tombstone and on the memorial bench. Again, I’d been there back in August but this trip was for Brendon, not me. It was obvious that someone or some people had been there, as there were new flowers in the vase connected to the grave and plenty of footprints in the snow. If I had to guess, I’d say it was Owen’s widow Martha and their kids, and maybe even big brother Bret “the Hitman” Hart.
Supper on Christmas Eve consisted of lasagna (FTW!), garlic toast and Caesar salad and the entire Ruttle clan showed up to Jim and Daniela’s. Once the crowd over there dispersed, brother John and sister-in-law Vaurie had a bonfire at their place, which is only about 10 minutes from Jim’s.
Before everyone started arriving back to Jim’s on Christmas Day, my family and I pried open our own gifts and the following was what I received:
– new leather coat (see above)
– a digital photo frame
– a couple new t-shirts
– book, The Catcher in the Rye
– electric heated seat for my car
– DVD, WWE’s Best PPV Matches of 2009/10
So yeah, quite a good haul and I sure as hell wasn’t expecting additional stuff like the $100 check, six months of Sirius radio or the Saskatchewan Roughriders BBQ accessories, which I got in the annual gift exchange game our family always does.
Eating, drinking, games, rinse, repeat, you get the drill when it comes to Christmas. I played pool, threw darts and every once in awhile, checked out the Comedy Network’s Christmas Day marathon of The Big Bang Theory.
Originally, I was planning on coming back Boxing Day to go to the annual dance held in Outlook, but this year I said to Hell with it. Did some more visiting, ate some more food and actually went to a movie that night. I saw True Grit, which I had been anticipating for months. Luckily, my expectations were met and I think it’s an amazing film with some great performances. The Coen brothers won me back after seeing that horrible and disjointed Burn After Reading.
These last few days after getting back on Monday were just spent hanging out in preparation for coming back to the office this morning. Like I said, it’s not bad since it’s already Thursday and we’re taking a long weekend to celebrate New Year’s.
I’m hoping to get around to putting pictures into my digital photo frame so I can have it here in my office. Just something I can look at when those little insanity moments start to pop up every now and then. That’s one thing I’ll be doing this long weekend, along with ringing in 2011 and thinking about the changes that might lay ahead.
Because they are coming.
Later,
D
The Chronicles of Ruttle 