Saturday, December 24, 2005

Christmas Plans

I'm in Denver for Christmas. The trip did not get off to an auspicious start, as United managed to get the plane off the ground two hours late, despite perfect flying weather. But since I've arrived, things have going well. The Culkins, one might say, are a very Christmas-oriented family. One of our traditions is to do all the shopping on the 23rd and 24th. (It used to just be the 24th, but the sheer number of people now involved makes that impossible.) My father believes that this plan saves time--as the shopping is not spread over weeks--and money--as by this point, everything is on sale. The latter is certainly true. When you have to cover this much territory in a short period of time, however, you need to be organized. Our first step is always to stop in a restaurant in the airport and make a list of people and possible gifts.



After that we headed off to pick up Sarah and Anders. We had hoped Anders would join us in this tradition for his first Christmas, but he isn't feeling too well. So his grandmother (a.k.a. Trish) was called in for backup and took over Anders duty. Of course, Ezra--the other beloved creature of the house--had to be given his share of the attention before we headed out.






Despite the late start, we managed to get quite a bit done, all in one store up in Boulder which was having a big sale. (See.) Andy, in a gesture of husbandly devotion, accompanied us. There was one glitch, in which the salesclerk charged us one hundred dollars for a fifteen dollar shirt. Sarah caught the error and all was well, although the clerk was strangely unrepentent. We finished the evening at Connor O'Neill's, the Irish bar off the Boulder Mall, which has a shrine to Michael Collins.

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