Gosh. A week from Christmas. I've had extensive conversations with both of my brothers about gift-giving in the last 20 hours alone, and, between the two, I lectured my mom ("Dammit, Mom, we're adults. We don't need boxes and boxes and boxes") about the stupidity of gift-giving.

But, yeah, I think I'm starting to look forward to it a lot more as I get older, which is probably normal. There's much less going on now than there used to be - about 12 relatives from two sides of the family in two days, rather than 25 or 30 from just my dad's side over four days, and about eight or ten from my mom's side the week before - but that probably makes it more fun, in it's own way.

My crazy mom was talking about the possibility of wearing a suit for Christmas Eve. What a silly she is.

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Suffice to say, the office Christmas party was a blast. On the upside, I drank far too much, and I wasn't the only one. I think we're not an office that judges, and I should probably be grateful for that. On the downside, I didn't make it past about 12:30, and I hear that much of the fun continued until the casino closed (closed!?) at two or so.

Much is foggy, but that's kind of the point, I think. Or maybe it's not, but I'll go with it.

I did purchase a four-dollar Christmas sweater from the Salvation Army before heading out to the party. I thought it would stick out for its dressiness, its guadiness, and its Salvation Army-ness but, when it comes down to it, it wasn't that gaudy, it smelled fine, and everyone else was dressed up.

There were several highlights to the night, most of them unrepeatable here. The most incredible part of the night came when we drew numbers and got to pick a package out from under the tree. I was stunned to unwrap a portable DVD player which, while not as expensive as I actually thought it was, was really pretty out of this world.

Waking up hungover Sunday morning, I started talking to the coworker that I shared a room with. "Hey, so what did you get last night?" I asked. A generally slovenly guy who speaks in a slow, slow cadence, he responded, "An ice cream maker. It could be pretty sweet." The enthusiasm was palpable.

I've pontificated to friends how much I've regressed in the past few years. I didn't really drink that much in college, and I drank like a certifiable adult - one or two or three and head home - for the first few years of my adult life. But now, pretty much, I get pretty much smashed. Maybe I'll re-grow up again, I'm not sure.

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Willie's Destroyers are in the BARC fantasy football money! I've been playing fantasy football for a decade, and this will be my first shot at any money since my ten-dollar entry pool in the 1997 season. I got Terrell Davis with the final pick of the first round, and Curtis Martin with the first pick of the second round. I drafted a little-known receiver named Terrell Owens in the final round.

That's not the nerdiest series of sentences I've ever written, but it's close.

The R-Josh and I had a great email string as his combination of Reggie Wayne and Adam Vinatieri nearly came from behind for the win.

The final: Willie's Destroyers 90.81, The Hooligans 88.04.

I'm the better team heading into the championship next week, but fantasy football offers no guarantees. Should be scintillating.

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Harper is coming back in next week. He'll be shooting a coda to the video of me he shot this spring. I think he came to tape because smarmy bastards who pontificate about themselves make easy doc footage. I sense that most of this footage will include me saying, "Remember that stuff I said in mid-June? It wasn't really true. This is where the action is."

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The real reason for this post is that Pitchfork is publishing their Top Whatever of the year on Tuesday, I think. I'd like to beat them to the punch.

I bought a lot of music this year.

First, revisiting my top one list, 1998-2004:
1998: Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
1999: Wilco, Summer Teeth (The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin)
2000: Modest Mouse, The Moon and Antarctica (The White Stripes, De Stijl)
2001: The Strokes, Is This It? (The Silver Jews, Bright Flight)
2002: Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (The Mountain Goats, All Hail West Texas)
2003: The Postal Service, Give Up (Nothing else that I really love)
2004: The Streets, A Grand Don't Come for Free (Brian Wilson, Smile; The Arcade Fire, Funeral)

Revisiting 2005, in top ten form:
(Including last year's rank; OBU=Owned but unranked; UO=Unowned)

1) The Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree (5)
2) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (UO)
3) The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday (UO)
4) Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary (1)
5) Bloc Party, Silent Alarm (3)
6) The Clientele, Strange Geometry (2)
7) The Decemberists, Picaresque (5)
8) The Silver Jews, Tanglewood Numbers (8)
9) Sufjan Stevens, Illinois (7)
10) The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (9)

Now, 2006, Top 15 (Remarkably, my legally-acquired list of CDs numbers nearly 40 this year. Remarkably.)

1) The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
2) The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
3) Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
4) Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
5) The Thermals - The Body The Blood The Machine
6) The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
7) The Futureheads - News and Tributes
8) Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
9) Grandaddy - Just Like the Fambly Cat
10) Rock Plaza Central - Are We Not Horses?
11) Islands - Return to the Sea
12) Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
13) Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor
14) Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
15) Rhymefest - Blue Collar

Most (not at all) interesting personal music development of the year for me:
Mountain Goats Mania!!

I bought six John Darnielle albums this year. "Cubs in Five," "Woke Up New," "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton," "Fall of the Star High School Running Back," and "California Song" all moved from "I've Never Heard This Song" status into "Top 100 ever." He rules.

Next most interesting personal music development:
The Hold Steady. I hadn't heard them until I gave The Boy Separation Sunday for Christmas last year. I was hooked immediately. Incredible stuff. Now, only if I could track down that allegedly-exists Lifter Puller discography.

Other 2006 music things...

Things I liked and I feel bad not listing, kind of (in no order):
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever You Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Things I'd probably like a lot if I listened more:
Swan Lake - Beast Moans
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Oxford Collapse - Remember the Night Parties

The most incredible package - liners, lyrics, haunting voice, fantastic cover art - of the year. The music ain't so great, but it's wild, which is good.
Joanna Newsom - Ys