Hopefully everyone had a fine Holiday feast;  We sure did.  We had a full-fledged gorge-a-thon out at Mom’s house this year.  I’m counting sixteen people in my head right now, which made for a few full tables.  I got up bright and early and smoked a turkey breast, and Mom did a big roasted one in the oven, plus all the standard accompaniments;   Mashed ‘taters, cranberries, noodles, gravy, salads, etc.  After dinner I settled in for an evening of football, while Donette braved the lighting ceremony.  I guess I’m done with the Plaza Lights…  If I can’t sit in the warmth and quiet of Todd’s apartment and watch it from across the street then I’ll take a pass on the whole thing.

Friday morning Donette got up and hit the Black Friday sales.  That’s usually my one shopping trip of the year, but I wasn’t up for it this time around.  The only “home run” deal I saw was a decent laptop out at Nebraska Furniture Mart.  But, I figured it would be a mob out there, and then there is the fact that we don’t really need a new laptop.  Indeed, Donette reported she was several hundred people out of the running on the laptop, so her pre-dawn outing in sub-freezing weather netted us a pair of boots and some long underwear from Cabela’s.  Oh well, maybe next year.  For evening entertainment we headed up to the distant Northlands to celebrate Josh’s birthday.  Nightmarish drive aside, we enjoyed still more good feed.

Saturday most of our day centered around the big MU – KU game.  Donette bravely volunteered for “table duty,” so she had to head down to the Brooksider around 3:00 and reserve some chairs.  Her sisters Ronda and Jackie came down with their broods and joined us, so we had a pretty good crowd.  I thoroughly enjoyed the game;  I would almost go so far as labeling it the single best sporting event I have ever witnessed.  While I don’t claim to be a die-hard MU fan, I do maintain a pretty strict anti-KU-fan sentiment.  Naturally, as luck would have it, we ended up next to a big table of “those guys” for the game.  (Not really lucky I guess… What are the odds we would be by the two civil KU fans in the city;  Those two must have been at the game or something.)  You know, the ones who stand on their chairs, rant and rave obscenities about each play, and just make general spectacles of themselves.  During the first few possessions, while KU still had a chance, they were so unbearable I didn’t think I was going to make it through the first quarter.  But, after the tide was going decidedly MU-ish, I got to enjoy the game in relative peace and quiet, with the bonus side-show of watching them sulk in silence, AND revel in the satisfaction of knowing we won’t have to endure any more loud-mouth rednecks in the Brooksider until well into basketball season.  (Well, during sporting events anyway…)

Sunday I got up bright and early and actually went to church.  My niece Rebecca got baptized, and as the official God-Father I was naturally obligated to show up.  Whew, 8:30 is early on a weekend.  Miraculously I survived though.  After church we all went out to a nice breakfast at good ol’ IHOP, which was even tastier when Mom picked up the check.  After that, well, you know the drill.  Horizontal on the couch watching football.  I was so bored by the evening game that I actually thought about taking the dogs for a walk or something.  Unfortunately for me and them, I never made it past the “thinking about it” stage.  Maybe next week.