I hope all of you had a fine holiday. It was a good Christmas in the home of ye olde blogger. From the wife, I received a sweater and zip sweatshirt from J Crew, an iTunes gift card (sadly the only thing I got from the Apple Store), and book six of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. From my secret Santa, which this year was my brother-in-law who’s in school in Boston, I got book seven of the Dark Tower and a Red Sox World Series hat that he personally purchased at Fenway Park. A wise man once told me that shirts, hats, etc. that are bought at a sports stadium are somehow better than those you pick up at the mall. For the wife, I purchased a Nike watch, some new running shoes (shockingly not Nike, but she picked them out), a couple CDs, and a diamond and silver bracelet. Santa visited M. a few weeks back, but she did get some new binkies from us then some new clothes and toys from the family. I was getting quite worried, as Mr. Hankey had not visited as of 9:00 last night. Fortunately, he arrived with a vengeance that seemed to please M. greatly. How could she believe in him if he didn’t show up for her first Christmas?

I did kind of suck on the Christmas movies this year. We watched Elf the night after Thanksgiving, then I didn’t get around to watching any others until early last week. I knocked off Christmas Vacation, but with split attentions since our speakers were acting funky that night. We watched It’s A Wonderful Life Thursday night, then I snuck in A Christmas Story Friday morning. A Christmas Carol and Miracle on 34th Street sit unwatched on our DVR.

As for music this season, my elaborate playlists produced these songs most often on the Mac and iPod:

Do They Know It’s Christmas Band Aid 9 Times
I’ll Be Home For Christmas Frank Sinatra 9
Merry Fucking Christmas Mr. Garrison 9
My Little Drum Vince Guaraldi 9
Christmas is Coming Vince Guaraldi 9
Silver Bells Dean Martin 8
Winter Wonderland Dean Martin 8
Jimmy Fallon’s Christmas Parodies 8
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus John Cougar Mellencamp 8
Hallelujah Chorus The Mormon Tabernacle Choir 8
Have A Merry Little Christmas Mr. Hankey 8
Maybe This Christmas Ron Sexsmith 8
Christmas Time Is Here Vince Guaraldi 8
Theme From Christmas Vacation 8
Let It Snow! Dean Martin 7
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Death Cab for Cutie 7