Holiday Season

Guys, it's been a long time.  I'm getting lazier than Brad Pitt's character in True Romance.  As I sit here and watch Round 1 of the NFL playoffs and do laundry, I figure now is as good a time as any to get back on the horse.

December is a crazy month.  Important events in December, in order:  Janae's birthday, dating anniversary, Christmas, Mom's birthday.  INTENSE.  We aren't materialistic people, so luckily gifts are not a barometer of whether or not anybody loves you.  That being said, in our first December together in the same zip code, I was hell-bent on knocking Janae's birthday and Christmas out of the park.  I'm happy to say I NAILED IT.  The pressure is off for the future.  Not that I'm going to try and tank gift-giving.  I'm just pointing out that the first one is the most important one.  You're probably wondering what I got her.  You nosy bitches.  I'm not here to share every private detail with you shmoes, but I will tell you one gift was tickets to see Amy Schumer live.  Fuck medicine.  Laughter is the best gift.

For our 1-year (!) dating anniversary, we went back to the restaurant/brewery where it all started, Columbia River.  You may have seen a picture of us on Facebook and Instagram.  Because I wanted everyone to know that we are still just as smoldering of a couple a year in as we were when we started last December.  It was a wonderful milestone.  Also, they have my favorite Double IPA I've had in Portland so far:  War Elephant.  I bought my first growler.

We did the whole two-Christmas thing, ya know, seeing as how we have two different families.  They live fairly close to each other too so it's easy for us popular people to make time for any and all loved ones.  It is important to note the difference in Stenberg and LeVine Christmases.  First of all, one last name is not Jewish (that's right, this "berg" is Swedish, not Jewish), so it's a little more culturally logical (though my mom is Christian and that's who we celebrate with.  This has gotten convoluted).  Outside of nomenclature, the Stenberg Christmas was 13-deep.  Parents, 5 kids, WABs (wives and boyfriends), and two grandkids.  Trust me, it equals 13.  Keep in mind that all grown men were 6'1" and taller, averaging out to about 6'4" between six of us.  Lotta beef sitting around the dinner table.  I think the turkey had to be cooked in a cauldron it was so big.  The dining room temperature was about 25 degrees warmer than any other room in the house.  Still it was a lovely day and a lovely meal.  Drinks were swigged, laughs were shared, and Settlers of Catan was played.  It was my first time, and it was pretty fun!  For something I never in a million years thought I would ever play, I enjoyed myself.

A LeVine Christmas is a bit smaller and two days after the actual holiday.  Six of us.  Low-key.  The only difference is the size of the dog and the lack of toddlers.  It was so energetic we had to wake my brother up for dinner after his graveyard shift.  Had a succulent (underused adjective) Christmas ham courtesy of my brother-in-law.  Then we opened gifts.  Usually we just do a White Elephant gift exchange, which works well for everybody.  But Val and Dylan went monkey-poo on gift buying this year and played Santa for everybody in addition to the White Elephant.  Anyway, we netted some good gifts, perhaps the most important of which were Chipotle gift cards.  Those won't last.  As is tradition, we ended the night with Christmas Vacation and pie.  Whenever I hear "Shitter's full" I hear "Happy Holidays".

Then to cap everything off, we had a nice New Year's celebration at our friend Lise's house.  She lives five blocks away, so you can imagine how excited we were to go over there.  It was a lovely party with a good spread of finger food.  Janae and I brought a bottle of Fireball and Captain Morgan. Yes, folks, I have stayed true to form out here.  It was fun cheersing for all the midnights between Eastern Standard Time and Alaska Standard Time.  Unsurprisingly, I finished that bottle of Captain Morgan.  Thanks to Lise for having us over.  Thursday was a tough day.  I mustered only a modicum of strength to watch the Winter Classic, which I dozed off during.  But I did see the Caps win at the end!  Then we went on to watch the College Football Playoff, which the entire state of Oregon was glued to.  Made for really light traffic.

The holidays were fabulous.  In retrospect, I guess they were a little bit busy, though it never felt that way.  We hung out with family and enjoyed spending time.  And really, isn't that what Christmas is

all about?  I think Charlie Brown would appreciate that philosophy.  I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday season.  Now it's time to work for months on end with very few breaks.  My goal for the next blog will be after the National Championship game since the Ducks will be in it.  I'll try and get reaction from the entire I-5 corridor.  Later!