Christmas Eve 2007

On Christmas Eve, the family got together as we usually do at my sister Carmen's McMansion in Voorhees, where per our customary practice gifts were exchanged at midnight.

I'm indebted to Carmen's daughter April, "my favorite niece" (we're only a few years apart, so more like siblings), for supplying me with gift suggestions for all of my relatives back there, since I live so far away and I have trouble keeping track of what people are in to and have.

( Potlatch )

I wish that I could include pictures of the event and the ensuing sea of torn paper, but my camera died on the eve of this trip. So I'll have to wait for my relatives to email them to me, then maybe I'll make a separate post.

No Hollywood Ending for You

On the night of Christmas day, April, her boyfriend Jim, and I went over to her mom's house again to more fully experience the custom theater that my brother-in-law Gil had built in their basement. The place actually bore a passing resemblance to Seattle's underground Big Picture--albeit much smaller and minus the bar, alas.

My brothers Victor and Abe showed up, as well, which was a pleasant surprise, as I hadn't seen them in a long while.

Victor in fact supplied the picture, a bootle--er, studio copy of No Country for Old Men. I'd seen the film at a Seattle premiere with marginalia several weeks earlier, but was definitely up for seeing it once more (even if it made rather dubious holiday fare ...). My brothers and brother-in-law were really into it, too. But I was a little worried about how the ending would sit with everyone, and not surprisingly, they hated that part. Bleak and nihilistic isn't for everyone.

But I felt bad for Gil didn't get to show off his new theater with a film that everyone enjoyed more.

Replaced by Shopping Malls

My niece April put me up during Christmas week at her townhouse in Mt. Laurel, which happens to be the town where I lived as a kid in the 'seventies.

Except that it's not.

( Where'd You Go? )

When They Start Giving Out Medals

I love my great-niece and great-nephew. They're great kids, each charming in her or his own way. Alexis is seventeen, bright, funny, confident, ambitious, wants to be a doctor. Jeremy is eleven, high-spirited, expressive, voluble, wants to be a rock star.

But between her occasional adolescent defiance, his hyperactivity, and their unending sibling rivalry, dealing with both of them at once can sometimes be a bit like living in The Village of the Damned.

I don't know how their mom manages to keep up with them, but I have to admire her for it. If they ever start handing out medals for single motherhood, she deserves one with oak clusters.

That Cuban Place

My niece April, my oldest brother Victor (see icon), the latter's girlfriend Ziggy, and I met up in Collingswood on Thursday to have dinner at Casona, a Cuban place which had come very highly recommended.

( Dining Out, Entertaining Ourselves )