Christmas Unwrap-Up

Sheesh, so much has been going on that I haven't had time to write about!  Somehow it seems appropriate for the last day of the year, to wrap up the last few weeks, covering holiday events that have gone unblogged.

First of all, Christmas itself.  Despite a few small hiccups, I'm declaring brunch at my house a success - more because it was fun than for any other particular reason.  A highlight was E's surprise holiday visit!  T agreed to pick her up from the airport and bring her to brunch, but a delayed flight threw a bit of a wrench in the works.  Everyone was understanding when I said T was running late and we'd have to delay the food a bit, and it all became clear when T and E showed up at the door!  Mimosas flowed and a good time was had by all.

That night I had a low-key Christmas dinner with T's family, coffee, more presents, general merriment.

A couple days later, I went to see my first Trans-Siberian Orchestra show.  I've had a number of their CDs for years and love listening to their stuff every Christmas season.  They played two shows at Scottrade Center, and T and I went to the afternoon show.  I made this choice because the seats available were significantly better, although it might have been a mistake.  The crowd at our show was pretty dull (save a few unendingly and endearingly entertaining superfans), but a friend went to the evening show and said people were wild.

Audience aside, the show itself was an odd combination of narrative work, rock show, orchestra performance, and pyrotechnics display.  And by rock show, I mean 80s hair band rock show.  As it sounds, and as T and I discussed, it's hard to pin down exactly what the concert was, but I know most of their music, so I found it enjoyable.  However, next year I think I'll opt for the evening show instead, even if the seats aren't as good.  I feel like the whole odd experience would be enhanced by  the presence of a more energetic crowd.

I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to do my annual watching of Little Women and Love Actually yet, but I'm still planning on getting to them.  Also this year, for the first time, I watched It's a Wonderful Life on DVD, rather than seeing snippets here and there on TV.  It's the first time in a long time (maybe ever?) that I've actually seen the entire movie all the way through, start to finish.  I was reminded that the movie is, as John Hawkes points out, actually quite dark despite its happy ending.

So I guess that's it for another Christmas - more next year!