Christmas has now come and gone. The best gift, of course, was my Savior. But things turned out better than I thought they might. I can reveal some of the stories behind the scenes...
Eric's gift was a treadmill. Steve got a really really good deal on one and he brought it home on a Thursday night. Eric had to work on Saturday, starting at noon and until late evening, so it was the perfect time to get it into the house. Steve backed the van around the garage and stopped at the top of the hill down to the basement slider doors. We managed (I'm sure I wasn't all that much help) to get it in the doors and hidden away. Lots of tire tracks and boot tracks in the new fallen snow. Afterwards, I was wrapping the instruction book and had just finished when Eric walks in the door! He decided to take a break between shows and come on home for a while. He looked out the back but says now that he didn't notice tire or boot tracks back there. Good thing.
Steve's big gift from me was a HDTV. Television is one of the few things that he likes to do these days, so I figured it was time to get an HDTV for him. 32" Magnavox. I bought it at Sam's Club on a Friday. The next day was our Gold Wing Christmas party, and we had some time to kill. Ended up at Sam's Club where he made the comments about wanting a BIG HDTV (more like 50" or so) and when I tried to make the point that the smaller ones (ie 32") would fit better in the room, he looked at me suspiciously and said, "You didn't buy me a TV already, did you?" In fact I had, of course, but didn't tell him that. Just said that if I had and he didn't like it he could always take it back.
Hid the TV in Scott's room under a blanket. A few days later (Dec. 23) I came home from some last minute errands to find Steve in Scott's room, working about a foot away from the covered up TV. He was (with Scott's permission) taking Scott's TV downstairs to the basement to watch while working out. He was also adjusting the DISH lines so that the signal could either be down in the basement or up in Scott's room if he was home. I figured he'd probably peeked under the blanket and discovered the TV but he says now that he didn't. Eric said he even laid tools and cables on top of it without knowing.
Bottom line he has set it up in the living room and enjoys it. He says that when (if in my book) he gets a bigger one this one can go in the other living room.
I blogged previously about having no anticipation, no surprises, for Christmas. Did end up with one. Eric bought me a lid lifter for my new dutch oven. But he also made me a dutch oven cookbook (printed 95 pages off at school where he can print for free...) AND bought me a Julie & Julia DVD and wrapped up a bunch of miscellaneous stuff that had been on the counter.
Steve gave me the aforementioned dutch oven, a preseasoned Lodge Boy Scout model 12". He also gave me a new 2-person tent. Reality says there's room for one plus gear, but I really needed something to replace the blue and purple wonder which I inherited from the boys. Can't wait to get some camping in this summer!
Scott gave me a cupholder mount for my nuvi and also AC/DC recharger for it. Cash and gift certificates from Steve's dad and from my Mom & Phil. All in all a nice Christmas. I'm thankful for family and friends.
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