Let the Xmas celebration begin

1) Mannheim Steamroller 2) The Friday night firkin 3) Glenn & Ykraps - a warm holiday embrace Once again, I was wise enough to take a few Advil before giving in to sleep. I managed to get out of bed and get moving around 5:45am. I felt pretty good despite drinking a handful of beers the night before. The house was quiet and would remain that way since the kids were gone with their father and Glenn would almost certainly sleep until at least 9 or 10am. I left for work around 7:40am. Mindy agreed to wrap more of the gifts I had for my girls and family to further reduce the stress of too much to do with relatively little time. I arrived to work on time. I had a lot weighing on my mind. I had more gifts to wrap, work to contend with, and the holiday on-call curse weighing on me heavily. Work was beginning to wind down just as we had hoped it would. And as the day wore on it continued to dwindle. For this I was very happy! I left for what would be my last from-work run of the year around 12:30pm. After my run I was planning a quick run to Macy's for one last Mindy gift. And after my run I did just that. I slid into the mall the back way avoiding the I-270 holiday traffic snarl. I ran into Macy's and got the ear rings i wanted for Mindy. I was back at work in about 20 minutes after I had left. That was fast and efficient! Once back in my office, I wrapped the earings and the home spun gift I toiled with all week. I also did Mindy's Xmas card and letter. I felt a great bit of relief after finishing those looming tasks of love. :) Mindy and I remained in contact most of the day. Her and Glenn had been grocery shopping and were making Xmas cookies. I left work at 4pm after spending the last hour talking with my peers. It felt good to leave work an hour early affording me an opportunity to relax a little before leaving for our night out. Once home I made quick work of my routine chores. I walked Ykraps alone to help unwind. The Mannheim Steamroller concert started at 7:30 and we were scheduled to meet Mindy's friend, Chris at Barley's around 7pm. We collectively decided that we wanted ot be at Barley's by 6:30pm so that we'd have time for a beer or two. We readied and left the house by 6:15pm. We arrived at Barley's at 6:30 just as planned. The bar was'nt too crowded by any means. For that we were happy. We all ordered drinks, Glenn and I had Xmas ale's on the firkin and Mindy a glass of Shiraz. Just as we settled at a small table near the entrance our new friends, Mark and Trudy came in. The recognized us first. We met them a month or so ago, the night we landed from our Portland trip and headed directly to Barley's. That night they took quick notice of Mindy's new ring and before we knew it, we spent almost the entire evening together chatting and partying. They are a lot of fun and like most Barley couples - a bit ecentric and very interesting. They met Glenn, too, and bought each of us a drink. I had two beers before Chris, Mindy's friend and Glenn's Mannheim date arrived. Chris came to Barley's straight from B.O.M.A. (Bar of Modern Art). She seemed very nice but looked a little older than I had envisioned. Her and Glenn struck up conversation right away, however. We left for the show at the Schott minutes later. We arrived at the venue a couple minutes late but concerts always start late. By the time we made it into the Schott the show had just begun. We had to watch their intia lsong from the wings as the ushers didn't permit any traffic in the auditorium mid-song. We eventually found our seats at the top of the Schott. They were still very good, however, because we were directly up and across from the stage which made for excellent viewing. Glenn and I were seemingly the only cncert patrons hooting and hollering between songs. I could tell that Chris was mortified and even Mindy was a little surprised. I knew we were in trouble whe nonly Glenn and I ordered drinks. Despite the reactions, Glenn and I continued with our celebratory antics. Between each song we made a point to exagerate our festive appreciation of Mannheim's music. They were really good! In fact, they were better than they were the last time I saw them. This time was ALL Xmas music unlike before when it was a combo of Xmas and traditional music. The show ended around 9:40pm and by the tiem we were in the car and on the road it was just after 10pm. We called Barley's while in route and placed food orders. Chris didn't want anythign. I assumed then that she wasn't too impressed with our celebratory ways. Oh well! Finally back at Barley's Chris bidded us farewell and went on her way. Glenn, Mindy, and I went back inside for more holiday fun. Everyone was still there partying. Most of the usual gang was there now too - Rick, Bob & Mary Ann, Steve, & Dan. Mark and Trudy were still there too. We drank more beer and ate some outstanding Barley food. We stayed until about 11:30pm when Mindy became overwhelmed with sleepiness. All of us were very tired once home .We went almost staight to bed. We had a big day ahead and would need as much beauty rest as we could get..