Birmingham Chron, Day 3

Once again, "sharing" my father-in-law's next-door neighbor's wireless connection...

I knew going in that yesterday would be my wife's hardcore wind-up-the-shopping day. She'd had a few last-minute gifts to get...so she headed out with her mom. There were cell phone calls. There was griping about the traffic. There was kicking herself for waiting to get certain things because the stores were now out of a specific size or color. There were stories of how bad it all was at Target/Wal Mart/Everywhere.

And she absolutely loves every minute of it. I think that is all part of her process, really. She actually enjoys the hustle and bustle.

I, on the other hand, get very scrooge-like even on runs to the grocery store or whatever.

Then I spent the afternoon with Kelsey and my nephew. We went to the local ballfield and let them hit some and throw some and run around some. It's sweatshirt weather, but still nice enough to play the baseball. Kelsey had a tough time of it because she hasn't hit or thrown a baseball in years. And softball has subtle nuances in hitting and throwing that made it hard for her. She had fun anyway, and we went to a local batting cage to let her hit fast-pitch softballs to erase the frustration.

We've been eating leftovers for three days...and they're still good.

Then we went to see some of Tracy's extended family after they'd had their family celebration...We've pretty much watched each other's families grow up through Christmas cards so it was nice to see them in person. Tracy's cousin Sally was in our wedding, and her husband Mike was regailing me with the realities of having two teenage daughter at Christmas:

Mike: You wanna know what else makes you crazy? The 16-year-old brought her boyfriend to Christmas with the family this year. That's him over there. Can you believe it? She actually asked me if she could bring her boyfriend to Christmas with them this year!

Me: I bet that's kinda hard.

Mike: Not really. Honestly, I like him better than her. He knows about football.

He kept me in stitches on topics like driving ("After she got her permit, she told me she didn't like to drive because she, and I quote, 'Has to concentrate too much.' Like I'm ever giving her the keys after a comment like that.") and the possibility of home schooling his kids ("No way. Not us. Not with my wife having to run it. My kids would be idiots. They won't be able to add 2 + 2 but they'd pass a lot of quizzes about Oprah or a true/false test on what time they all got up. Uh uh. No way. Not us.").

We then had to run by Wal Mart to get some kitchen supplies (even though we could all survive here for the remainder of winter if they didn't get groceries one more time)...and Tracy finished off the day wrapping the last minute gifts. Lights were out at 2AM.

Vacation isn't very restful...and, on top of that, the Cowboys game will not be shown here today as we'll get the Falcons/Bucs. Why my mother couldn't get a satellite dish with NFL Sunday Ticket for the one day a year I fall victim to the NFL's regional coverage policy is beyond me...