Xmas in India

MERRY CHRISTMAS























It was 7:20am on Xmas morning and I was the first one up. I was careful not to make too much noise prefering instead ot get the morning started in peace and tranquility. The first thing I did was light the tree to make Xmas more colorful. I prepared a pot of Starbucks coffee and launched a round of calisthenics. It was difficult finding enough room to tucked my toes without banging m head on the numeroous gift piles/boxes scattered about hte family room yet somehow I managed.

It was a beautiful start to Xmas morning with the sun shining and temperatures hovering at or near freezing. Ykraps and I left for our walk heading east towards Mike's house. Upon renetry the house was still quiet but within a couple of minutes I could hear the children stirring and chatting with their mother. There was the elevated excitement of Xmas in their every word. Mindy was bent on them coming downstairs together. In the mantime i tried hopelessly to access the internet hoping for a miracle of sorts on my home desktop, but still n ojoy. Next, I logged into work ia my laptop to make sure thigns were quiet. They were.

Mindy & the kids were finally on their way down before 8am. They were pumped! As is their tradition, Mindy had them open their stockings first which Santa had filled with all sorts of goodies. He had evne filled stockings for Mindy & I. Next, we moved ot the family room where the kids launched a full assault on the their gift piles. Mindy was careful about the order in which their gifts were opened. First they opened their individual Santa piles. Next they opened their shared Santa pile, which included the PS2, an extra controller, and two games. They were really excited! After that they opened their Mommy & jimmy piles which included more fun stuff along with some a few Xmas staples like socks, boots, etc. They were difgging it! They got lots of cool stuff. We still had one moregift left for the two of them. They opened it together. It was a Wii! They were psyched, and laughed at Santa for bringing bot ha PS2 & a Wii. As you might guess, we got lots of Xmas hugs!

Mindy & and I worked through our own piles next. I got some Nike running clothes, which I really wanted, more running gloves, a facemask. I also got a Home Depot gift card, some Viking pajamma pants, some Barley's pint glasses along with their latest t-shirt, and a case of Xmas ales. Very cool! Mindy got a couple Vicotria Secret sleepers, a coffee mug, a 2007 photo album stuffed with 80 pictures of the year gone by, bright purple luggage, and some diamond ear rings. She was happy!

The kids were completely over stimulated. They wanted otplay with everything. Mindy did a great job managing their desires against logic. Givne the day's plan, she allowed only smallish toys to be opened and played with for the time being. Bella, however, managed to get some of her new make-up opened, and just as I expected it was everyshere in less than a minute. We had glitter dust flying throough the kitchen air and later powder all over the island counter. You really have to watch her closely!

Around 10am I left for my Xmas day run - a run I always enjoy! I wore on of my new Nike seal-skin mocks. It was very warm and very comfy.I also wore my new running pants. They're a bit lighter weight than my others. pairs. My run was most pleasant. When I returned the sweet smell of maple bacon permeated the entire house - that and the awesome smell of our Bath & Body "Tree" candle. It was surely Xmas! We sat to eat our breakfast together as family. And in what has become a tradition of ours, we served mimosas. The kids, of course, enjoyed theirs alcohol-free (Thanks Uncle Chuck).

After breakfast Mindy hooked up Jacob's PS2 in his room so that he could play Madden 2008. That kept him quiet up until we left for Gloria's. I continued monkeying around with my PC loading all the drivers off of a Dell provided CD that came with my PC some four year ago. I was hopeful that amongst them would be the driver that awakens my NIC. Despite all of my efforts the NIC was still not reconized. I was bummed. I tried coming to terms with the idea of replacing the entire machine. That would most likely turn into $2K. Yikes!

We left for Gloria's around 1:30pm after Mindy told her that we would be there close to noon. Oops! We had so much to do, though. While I showered Mindy loaded all the gifts, food, and camera in the Trooper making our exit smooth and easy. In the back of my mid I was concerned that we were holding up everyone;s Xmas there. However, that wasn't the case. We weren't the first to arrive but we weren't the last either. Too, I was nervous about being on-call and away from my laptop, although I did have my Backberry.

In what is tradition, the family was gathered in the lower level. There were more gifts than at our house. Holy smoke! The lower level was self contained in that all the food, treats, and drinks we needed were available. What's intersting in that Gloria uses her washing machine as a cooler to avoid needless trips upstairs. It works very well, too! We waited about an hour before opening gifts. We snacked on the goodies while waiting. The kids went first. Mindy's family has their tradition, which each gift giver takes a turn passing out their gifts. It makes so much more sense than having everyone passing out gifts at the same time. The kids got a ton of cool stuff. What comes to mind was Jacob's OSU football unifrom. And you just had to know that he put it on right away! You could see in his eyes that he felt instant fame donning the uniform of his beloved Bucks. He and I headed outside to toss the football in the lovely Xmas day weather. I must've been about 40 and sunny by then.

After others arrived we exchagned gifts with Gloria, who presented her gifts to everyone last. Among our bounty, we got some really cool deep purple candle holders that will go nicely with our planned decor'. As the afternoon wanned and the kids played, the holiday glaze took over momentarily. Momentarily, that is, until Larry asked Julie to fetch her Wii from the car. That changed the entire energy of the room. Soon everyone, five to seventy-three, was cheering and enjoying themsleves as we played Wii bowling. This was our first glimpse into the action having not yet opened ours back at home. I am completely impressed. Nintendo has developed something that the entire family can enjoy at the same time that is both fun, challenging, yet easy for all. We had a Bowl! :)

After the Wii we headed upstairs for Xmas dessert, which again is stepped in tradition. Gloria always serves ice-box cookies topped withe her own blend of Xmas frosting on her Xmas plates. I find it quirky yet appealing. There's something about long held family traditions that I absolutely love. You cna tell that Mindy and her sibs are very rehearsed at this whole thing. Mindy had our family pile orgainzed and ready for easy transport home. We first carried it all to the garage where then we loaded it into the Trooper. It must've been near 7:30pm. As soon as we got home I walked Ykraps who was waiting pateintly my the door for our certain return. Jacob came running wanting to walk with us. Ykraps agreed.

The kids were still pumped but also exhausted. Mindy managed to get them settled into bed just after 8pm. We did a little organizing and I checked in with work. I tried again fooling with the drivers for my NIC but still no joy. Finally, at 9pm I deciided to surf Dell's webpage for support ideas via my laptop. Eventually I decided to try their live chat. Judging by the gentleman's name, Muthulaksham, I guessed him from India where many high tech Help Desks now reside.
This guy was so cool! Long story short. We worked together by PC and phone for the next five hours correcting the issue. He had me moving jumpers inside my PC resetting the BIOS to its original state. In addition, he pointed me to some new drivers via my laptop that I burned ot CD and then uploaded ot my desktop. Just after midnight, Xmas now behind us, he got me to Intel's website where we found anew NIC driver that revived my NIC and immeidately activated my internet connection. WAHOO! As you might guess, I was elated. And i let him know that too!
After gaining internet connectivity I allowed him to take control of my PC via remote desktop to remedy other missing drivers that conrtolled audio, video, and printing. He stayed with me until after 2am. We closed after he tried to load my printer to no avail. I knew how to do it and loaded it successfully just after he and I parted ways. Thank you Muthulaksham! You're the best! I was now ready for bed!

As I snuck under the covers Mindy asked how it went. I shared the good news and the kindness of my new friend at Dell. Whe nshopping for a new PC you can bet it'll be anotehr Dell. They were simply awesome!!