Christmas Eve (Part II)

Deb and Tom’s kids, Matthew and Emily, each got to open a couple of their presents tonight, on Christmas Eve. Gabriel joined in as well. He got a Thomas the Tank Engine train set. His Uncle Tom put it together for him and Gabriel stayed occupied for a couple hours with that. In the meantime, we watched Hoodwinked and I finished posting my homework for the week. All I had to do was my weekly discussion summary. The day before that, I had to write part of a paper explaining the rationale for analyzing MLB statistics, comparing the dollars that major league baseball teams spend on their payroll (athletes only, of course, and not including office personnel). The analysis for our team is examining the relationship (if any) between payroll dollars and the number of games won in 2006, and also compares the payroll to attendance, home runs, and other baseball stats.

The class I am working on now is a pre-calculus to calculus-level research class. I posted that assignment on Sunday. The nice thing is that there is a break from school through January 8th, a break which started as soon as I posted my last assignment on Christmas Eve. Sweet! I need this time to review all the material and to be sure that I can understand and absorb all the formulas and apply it in such a way that I can put the information into excel in a coherent manner. Fortunately, the class hasn’t been too difficult so far, but on the other hand, college courses are expensive, so I might as well be challenged and learning something from all of this.

Enough for now. The kids, nephew, niece, and our son, are all excited about Santa Claus visiting tonight. Our other son, Jericho, is happy as long as he is fed and in getting attention from Mom, Dad, or Uncle Deb or Aunt Tom (that was not a typo, spoonerism, or, God help me, a Freudian slip, even though Uncle Tom is kind of girly. Hehe!)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Christmas Eve (Part I)

We traveled to Deb and Tom’s tonight to spend Christmas Eve with their family, which is something of a family tradition for us. We have done that ever since they have lived in the same house. They have a big remodeling project going on. It really doubles the size of their house, I think. I wouldn’t necessarily do the project the same way, but that is the great thing about it for them: their house, their plans. Of course, the reason I would do it differently is because I would have so many windows and more room for our houseplants that are standing twelve feet tall now (the bird of paradise palms).

Tom made a good dinner. Deb says that he is a good cook, and I would have to agree. I hate being forced to agree with my baby sister, since I think she is kind of a dufus (stated with all the brotherly warmth that a person can muster for his little sister). Anyway, Tom baked a ham and potatoes, the usual fare, though the apple pie was very good. Side note: I found out later that the food was as good as can be bought from the Cashwise deli and then reheated at home. The food was good, so to each his own.