Sunday, December 31, 2006 | by nathan

2006 - Fin.

"Hey Nathan: how was your Christmas?"

It was great, thanks.

Brian and I got to spend the whole day and most of Christmas Eve together, which was fantastic. My dad, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle and my cousin Emily and her son came to my mom’s house Christmas Eve and we all hung out for a bit. Chambers brought his new boyfriend and his roommate Justin by to leave for midnight mass; this has been our Christmas tradition since 1998. We had planned to go get a cocktail after mass was over but I ended up having a horrible stomach ache and left right after the Eucharist.

My dad stayed with Brian and me that night, and we got up early the next morning to make it down to mom’s for breakfast. So we did the pretty-normal breakfast-presents-Christmas dinner order of things. Brian and I got mom a new gas grill, and I got John a Nintendo DS. Fun times. Mom got me a new bike, which was actually one of the things on my Überlist: get a bike.  Brian got me a new 88-key electric piano I can hook up to my Mac. That was great; I can practice more now. In college I practiced every day, sometimes two or three times a day in the practice rooms in Scales Fine Arts Center. I’m hoping I can surpass the level of mediocre skill I achieved back then.

For Brian, I booked our honeymoon: one week in San Francisco in June. I knew we had enough frequent flyer miles for one domestic ticket but not two, so I booked the other and bought him some travel guides and a bunch of good travel gear. Then we get home and find out we DON’T have enough miles for another ticket. Gooood job, Nate. Still, we’re stoked about the trip and are currently looking for cheap-ish - but nice - places to stay in San Fran. Anybody got any leads? 

All the extended family were gone by 4 p.m. Mom, Bri, John and I celebrated "The Best Christmas Ever" - or at least, the most efficient - by drinking wine and watching  Little Miss Sunshine, for which our friends the Flynns joined us. 

A couple nights ago we double-dated with Jaye and Laurie to the Chickasha Festival of Lights, kind of an Oklahoma Christmas must. Pictures of that - including one of a light structure of creepy Santa peeking in a little girl’s window - are forthcoming.

The best part of the holiday is that it is the first time EVER that Brian and I have had an entire week off at the same time. We’ve been hanging out with each other a lot, getting some things done that have been put on hold all year, like allergy-proofing our bed, shopping for new couches and making some plans for 2007. Mostly, though, we’ve played a whole lot of Katamari Damacy and I’ve tried to get over the rattling cough I got on Christmas Day.

I rewrote a few items on my Überlist and had it re-printed at Kinko’s. I’m taking this self-improvement stuff seriously. 2007 is the year I’m getting married, graduating with my master’s degree and becoming a gay uncle, to mention a few things. It seems like a lot is going to change this year, and I am excited about that. I’ll post the list as soon as I’ve got it in web form, that way I’m accountable to you, my two gentle readers, if I don’t get some shit done.

Today Brian and I are headed to the Red Cup to get some work done - he some stuff for when he goes back to the office next week, me some writing for when I start my thesis project - my next novel - in two weeks. Tonight we’re headed to Trattoria il Centro in downtown Oklahoma City for a fabulous New Year’s Eve dinner and then possibly back here for a midnight toast.

Happy 2007, all.