Christmas Birthday

My youngest son had a birthday the other day, his ninth. He obviously was pretty excited about it, as most kids are. When is the age when folks stop caring about, even begin to loath, birthdays? I suspect it's younger for women, but I believe we all get to that point, don't we?

Unfortunately (I suppose), he suffers from that dreaded right-after-Christmas birthday syndrome. You know, when you're in gift overload, "one more gift...great." Also, all of your school friends are on holiday. No birthday parties.

I asked him why he was so excited about his birthday.

"I'm one year closer," he said.

"One year closer to what?"

"One year closer to not having to order from the kids' menu."

"Don't be in such a hurry to grow up, boy..."

Together for Christmas

Had a wonderful Christmas day with the family. Very thankful I could be with them this year. Last year I experienced the screams of delight of Christmas morning over the phone from my hotel room. This year I was right there with the video camera to capture it all. The kids did alright on gifts. Of particular note:

- 32" flatscreen for extreme PS3 play
- New guitar for yours truly. They coordinated a "Christmas Story" experience for me. My son went to far as to quote Ralphie's dad saying, "So, did you get everything you wanted?" My wife then said, "Hey, what's that behind the tree?" Very memorable experience.
- My youngest son got a 4', two-handed broadsword, a la William Wallace. Don't ask me what he's going to do with that. I told him to stand out in the yard and give passers by his best impression of the Scottish hero.
- Wife got the standard Dicken's Village house. She's got quite the little town going now.
- Call of Duty 5. Me likee...

My daughter got a horse stable set. She's got all 30 of her minature horses packed into it. The best part is listening to the backstory she creates as she plays. It's like watching a soap opera. She actually develops characters. My favorite is the handsome black horse who can't decide who to marry.

Yukon, Ho!

Just got back yesterday from a week-long training mission to Alaska. It's cold up there and it snowed several times, putting a damper on some of our training we were trying to accomplish. I did snap this picture of our other formation aircraft with Mt McKinley in the background. It looks like evening (I guess it is evening up there), but it was about three thirty in the afternoon when I snapped this picture.

Robert Redford's "Jerimiah Johnson" came on last night. After seeing that and considering my recent trip, I must say there is some allure to the frontier, mountain man life, scratching out one's existance and braving the elements. The thought has crossed my mind occasionally.