Holidays 2008

Christmas has come and gone again for another year. And I look now longingly at The Tree knowing that shortly after New Year's the "Holidays" will officially be over and the Tree will need to be taken down until next time. Grief follows happiness. So the cycle continues.

Gwen and I endured our final Christmas in Europe on the down-low. Most of the week leading up to Christmas I myself was working heavily on the wards, rounding on patients and dodging the various VIPs that like to make their own rounds in the hospital at holiday time. Dennis Farina? I have no time for you - I have patients to see. (I also heard that Kid Rock was around about a week ago. Though I did not see him myself. If I had, I would have probably been implored to tell him that his new song sucks and is a total rip off of far better songs, and to stop rhyming words with themselves. And, uh, thanks for supporting the troops.)

I worked on Christmas itself which was mostly peaceful and fairly pleasant with small exceptions. My favorite part of working in the hospital on the holidays is commiserating with the patients and other staff who are stuck there by constantly commenting that it's "the most wonderful time of the year!" This is my go-to joke in hospital during the holiday season, and it works every time when a patient laments spending Christmas in the hospital, or a fellow employee laments that we're working that day, etc. Whether I actually sing the verse with verve or mutter it almost under my breath, it doesn't matter - it's money in the bank every time. And the busier it gets, or the worse the situation, the funnier the joke.

Christmas night I got home and Gwen and I exchanged gifts. This year I received a batch of Giants Stuff, which is always welcome, some DVDs, books, among other things. My big gift to Gwen this year was a a Kindle, which, after doing research and talking with some people who own one, I feel is perfect for her. This is a woman who reads full books in 1-2 day periods, rereads the same books while wating on other books to arrive, etc. There are not enough books to go around for her, an insane thought but nevertheless true. We have four full size bookcases jam-packed with books, and more always on the way. It's as if the Kindle was made for her, and in fact should have instead been named, simply, "The Gwendolyn".

Unfortunately it's currently on back-order, and it can't be used in Europe anyway, so we're waiting a bit to get it in our hands. Still, our next trip to the States nears, and when it does come that thing is not going to know what hit it.


After presents and dinner Gwen and I scuttled off to Man Room to renew our now annual holiday tradition, that of viewing the Lord of the Rings trilogy in it's Extended Edition entirety. This is fabulous thing to do each year, if one can find the 37 hours necessary to spare to actually sit down and view all of it. We went nightly through the three movies beginning on Christmas with Fellowship and ending on the 27th with Return of the King.

I find myself continually transfixed with this trilogy, and each year it becomes more and more difficult to tell myself that there other movies, anywhere, about anything, more worthy of my time. The trilogy is a masterpiece, and I reaffirm this every time I see it, often in the first few minutes of the first movie, while Sauron poses with the Ring during Cate Blanchett's narrative back-story. The flaws are few and far between, and require what seems like extended and deliberate effort to find. These movies grip me in a way few other films dream of, and they've clearly taken the mantle from Star Wars as the series du jour which defines my love of science and fantasy fiction.

The Two Towers, in particular, continues to grow on me with subsequent viewings. I've said this before but I'll say it again - I think it benefits the most from the Extended Edition treatment and, similarly to Empire, it really adds some of the universe's subtleties which make the entire trilogy more enjoyable. Also it features prominently my two favorite secondary characters, Saruman and Faramir.

The high points are simply too many to list here, but I will say that every time I view the Wizard Fight in Fellowship I find myself thanking Sweet Jesus that I am in fact alive and granted sight. I also enjoy watching Gwen turn into a quivering heap of tears for the entire second half of Return of the King. It gets me every time. It seems I already can't wait until next year.

Lastly, I will mention that fantasy football is officially over for another year. I had four teams in the semi-finals, as I mentioned, but alas, only one took home the Championship The lowly ManRays, of the TFL, who were just 7-6, a lowly 6th seed, became all of a sudden the little team that could while all my other teams, number one seeds all of them, faded away into infamy in some form or another through the rest of the playoffs.

Now football returns to a purer, if somewhat less involved form. Wins and losses are all that matter, and my attention diverts again, like the Great Eye, entirely to the New York Football Giants and their quest for a repeat championship.




"Time? What time do we have?"