From: ssalter@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (-=[SLS]=-)
Subject: Christmas News
Organization: OFSA
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 21:47:30 GMT

	Aahhhh, a full night's sleep at last! I had gone to the doctor
yesterday and had received antibiotics and codeine cough medicine for
my bronchitis. After three nights of sleeping only a couple hours each
a full night made me feel great! It was Christmas Eve morning and
Julie and I had a few things to do today. We leisurely woke up with
coffee and tea and after showering we headed into town to pick up one
last thing for my oldest son. We went to Pygmalion's art supplies
downtown and found the perfect sized sketch book to complete his
Christmas present. After that we walked up to the Uptown Cafe for
lunch. It was cold and windy and Julie's cheeks were flushed with the
chill.

	The Uptown is a very nice restaurant with excellent food and
reasonable prices. They also have habenero sauce on every table for
the adventurous. I, being adventurous, had some with my fried
potatoes. Whew! I had forgotten how hot that stuff was! We talked and
ate and eventually left. We wandered through the horrible crush of
people at the mall since I had something left to pick up for my honey
and after getting that in a secretive manner we stopped by the grocery
and went home.

	The rest of the day was calm and relaxed..both of our
ex-spouses dropped off our respective children in the evening so we
just sat around and straightened up the house a bit and I worked more
on the computer game I am writing. We did manage to find time to
cuddle on the couch together in front of the gently glowing Christmas
tree we had cut and brought home the week after Thanksgiving. It was
the best looking tree either of us had ever had! The kittens enjoyed
leaping up and grabbing the silver and blue streamers as well as the
lights and we kept the water bottle close by for quick discouragement.

	It was wonderful sitting with my lovely, warm wife in front of
the tree. All was dark except for the multihued illumination of the
tree and the lights we had strung outside on the front of the porch.
Around 9:00 pm Julie's children arrived and the computer started up
with the usual sounds of raucous computer games. My ex wife dropped
off my three kids around 11:00 pm and we got everyone settled in bed.

	Julie and I  filled the stockings that were hung on the
stairway banister for the children and retreated to bed. We had warned
the kids that no one was to make any noise or do anything but get
their Christmas stockings before 7:00 am the next morn. It was
actually 7:30 before the girls started making noise at the doorway.

	We all sat around the living room by our small piles of gifts
and, starting with the youngest, opened the gifts one by one. Julie
and I had decided to forego getting presents for each other so we
could purchase a new television but we had token gifts. She received a
tea ball (for loose tea) and a large can of English Breakfast Tea and
I got a nice framed picture of my beautiful wife for my desk at the
office. All the children seemed VERY pleased with their gifts. Josh,
the oldest, tends to prefer telling everyone what he wants and
expecting it. I, as usual, disregard that and get him what I want.
*grin* he was pleasantly surprised with the professional drawing set
and sketch pads and drawing books we had got for him. Zak loved the
magic kit and several scientific kits we had got for him. Jessy loved
the Sony tape player/recorder and tapes and Kellen and Carly loved
their brand new bicycles. 

	After breakfast we all got ready and dropped Carly and Kellen
at their Dad's house. They are going to California to visit some
relatives so they were unable to go to Columbus to visit my parents
with us this year. We drove to Columbus and opened up gifts there
also! Jessy loved the Creepy Crawler maker she got...she spent all day
with her two cousins making bugs! I remember a Creepy Crawler maker I
had when I was a kid also. It was much less safety oriented but
required no assembly like Jessy's kit did. :)

	My brother and sister and families were there and the house
was crowded with the addition of my second cousin and his wife. A good
time was had by all and a magnificient feast was consumed!

	We stayed at my parent's until about 7:00 pm and returned to
Bloomington with Zak, my second oldest. Josh and Jessy stayed at
GrandMa's house since their mother was going to be dropping by and
visiting also. They were going to go back to Bloomington with her.

	We just relaxed once we got home and Zak played computer
games. We went to bed fairly early, being tired and slept well. Ahhh a
wonderful, relaxing Christmas with our family. It was so nice to be
able to have everything done ahead of time and have everything
scheduled properly. No last minute running around. I especially
enjoyed having all the kids at  my house Christmas morn to open gifts.
They open gifts at their other parent's houses Christmas Eve but I
have wanted to start a tradition at my ( I should say OUR house) for
quite some time. I remember so much magic concerning Christmas morning
in my own childhood.

	It is the day after Christmas now. Julie and I are going to
buy our new television tomorrow since the cable company is coming out
Tuesday to connect us up. My bronchitis is going away fast and today I
hauled in a bunch of kindling wood from the nearby forest. The wood
stove is a wonderful way to heat the house. Sure, a little dirty, but
the heat is so WARM. :) Of course, Julie and I create our own warmth
also...the warmth of Love.

	Merry Christmas to all..

Steve

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