hello, and merry christmas.

i've had an absolutely wonderful three or so days since returning to glenview on thursday night.

after arriving thursday and making small talk with the family, friday saw me sleep late. real late. up at noonish, i sat around. ate something. got yelled at because it was getting late. showered at 315, in time (the only one of five on time, it should be noted) to leave for christmas eve mass. the highlight of mass was clearly the odd appearance of one santa claus, who kneeled down and prayed in order to emphasize to the children dressed as shepherds and angels that 'jesus is the reason for the season.' totally odd. you'd think the only guy dressed at santa to show up for church would also stink of vodka, but this was part of the show. odd. then dinner with the bobnik's, at a wonderful restaurant owned by astronaut james lovell. he was on apollo 13, and apparently thinks he's famous because there's all sorts of memorabilia.

then we returned to glenview.

christmas day was tremendous. another late wakeup...1030ish. nice brunch. some hanging out. watched the 'stons-'cers, and really enjoyed watching reggie miller play well. i like him much more now that he's not the official nemesis of the bulls. it's nice watching the old guy who was supposed to ride the bench be productive. showered before the lakers game, then played rummikub with annie and daddy. dave and jeni arrived 5ish, after being hassled by the police. then we opened presents. as somebody who owns a total of two dvds (pavement's the slow century and gbv's watch me jumpstart), i made quite a haul, bringing home arrested development's first season and the wilco doc i am trying to break your heart and the curb your enthusiasm second season (i've never seen it, but the boy correctly, i imagine, assumes i'll like it), and the ron santo doc this old cub (which was opened a total of four times on the day, once by me and once by the boy and twice by the daddy). i also acquired a wok, and some pants, and the newest total baseball and loretta lynn's van lear rose and a check, all of which has already gone towards a new computer. i'm hoping this one lasts five years, which is reasonable. (the desktop, still functional in the 'port, served me well for 3 1/2.)

this christmas season is a gigantic change from previous ones, which generally include the bobniks and five other rud family extensions. but with grandma and grandpa now gone, the need to come in is also gone. so various families spent time in florida (two families' homes), or colorado (one family, and now two cousins', and one visiting family) or elsewhere. i was dreading it a bit, because it'd be a big change, but it was restful and enjoyable. at this point, with no kids now living in glenview, we obviously don't see each other much. and to spend seven or so hours with just the six of us (plus jeni) was truly tremendous.

today, the 26th, i watched lots of arrested development with the boy, and played a bit more rummikub, and watched the bears (robbed) and watched the bulls (disappointing, but five of six is nice).

tomorrow, the 27th, i'll be heading to the proviso west shootout, the annual highlight of the chicago christmas sports calendar. the spartans play a 1030 game, and i'm looking forward to seeing HF's Kansas (I think)-bound Julian Wright. I'm trying to get a bit more research done before i go. coach is joining me, and he's the resident jon (sp?) scheyer (sp?) expert. apparently, he's one of the nation's top juniors, and he's also a stringy jewish 2-guard. and he led gbn downstate as a frosh. it'll be neat to see him.

i'll also go to see the cats, either alone or with a sucker. after that, it's up in the air...perhaps an old boss jerry visit...i don't know if anything else is in the hopper.