Snow - In a strange twist we had a green(ish) Christmas followed by snow the following Boxing Day. I just got in from clearing out the snow and getting all the trash out. It's weird because I'm in the house all by myself. The girls are playing with friends down the street and Michelle took the boys with her to the YMCA to teach her class. It's sunny, but windy and cold.
Polar Express - I broke down yesterday and took Claire and her friend to see Polar Express. As a computer technology person, I would have loved to have seen it in either an IMAX theatre or in 3-D. Instead I saw it in a local theater with a rather small screen and unimpressive sound system. The story is once again "based on" the book but embellished to fill out the time. There's a rather scary vagabond ghost who lives outside the train. I'm not sure what he was supposed to represent … the embodiment of doubt perhaps? The story seemed to have a lot of unrelated somewhat contrived crises. Then there's the pseudo deep moments such as when the conductor says something like “The thing about trains is, it doesn’t matter where they’re going. What matters is deciding to get on board.” As one blogger said, what if it’s going to Auschwitz? The rendering is good but somehow creepy. Some have really liked the movie, but I have my reservations.
Christmas - The kids are starting to settle down from the Christmas high. I sometimes think that the level of giving is just too overwhelming for them. So many presents in such a little time. This year we tried to improve things by breaking up gift opening into two days. On the morning before Christmas we opened about a third of the gifts, especially the mailed ones. On Christmas morning the kids opened the rest. As has happened other years, Michelle went through the toy room, bundled up all the toys that hadn't been played with lately and donated them to Good Will.
Sneaker - In sad news it looks like Suzy's CRX is dead -- having blown a timing belt. Mr. Piston, meet the valves. Crunch! That car has sentimental memories as Michelle and I bought it within a few weeks of getting married. Sniff. It was almost old enough to drive itself. ;-) Suzy, best wishes on getting a replacement to get you through this last bit of school.