We had a fine Christmas here in Arizona. Of course, it’s just the first of two Christmases for me; my family will celebrate Christmas on Dec. 29, when we’re all together in New York. :) But this was certainly a good start.

Here is my traditional Christmas picture of all the gifts I got:

Among the highlights: awesome Notre Dame pillow and blanket from Jen and Soren; cool Lord of the Rings “weapons and warfare” book and LOTR trivial pursuit game from Becky (we played twice–I won both times); digital thermometer thingy, also from Becky; big fat “Century” photo book from my parents (technically a Hanukkah gift); a cell phone headset from Becky; various nice-smelling soaps and related bathroom products from Becky and her parents; a soft, very nice, dark green sweater from Becky’s uncle and aunt (not pictured because I was wearing it when I took the photo); and Best Buy gift cards from Becky’s parents and Casey. And there’s more — but you can see that! :)

Of course, Christmas is supposed to be about giving, not receiving, so let me tell you about some of the stuff I gave! Becky was the beneficiary of a rather substantial Target shopping spree, which produced various stocking stuffers like snowflake earrings, cow socks, SpongeBob SquarePants stickers, etc.; Lonestar’s greatest-hits CD; the double DVD of both X-Men movies; a floating candle set; and more. Soren, a fellow LOTR nerd, got a Gollum action figure and a Balrog candle holder (the fire illuminates the Balrog’s head — very cool!), while Jen got a neat vibrating pillow, and Casey got a book called “The Lies of George W. Bush” (or something like that). Becky’s parents, for now, got a CD-burned copy of “Butter Baggings and the Fish of Doom,” but their real present is yet to come; I’m still working on making it. :)

Becky and I emptied our respective stockings and opened most of our presents for each other in the morning. Then we went over to her parents’ house in the early afternoon and opened more presents there. (You can see my cell-phone posts of all this, as it was happening, in my new Holidays 2003-04 blog category.) Here’s a picture of Becky in the robe that her parents gave her, and below it, a shot of her reveling in the glory of said robe, with the chaos of present-opening all around her:

About those Best Buy gift cards… Becky’s parents attempted to trick and confuse me by wrapping theirs inside a Victoria’s Secret bag. Heh. I must admit, I was momentarily at a loss:

After we finished opening presents, we watched a couple episodes of South Park from the first-season DVD that Becky bought for her dad:

When we got home, Becky and I played Trivial Pursuit and then watched Two Weeks Notice, which we had rented from Blockbuster the previous day. Oh, and we played with the kittens, who were themselves spoiled with various Christmas presents this morning (many of them involving catnip in some form).

Now Becky is asleep (early to bed and early to rise!) and I’m left to ponder the remaining tasks I must do before leaving on a jet plane for the East Coast on Saturday morning: finish our Christmas cards (yeah, a little late, so sue us), finish Becky’s parents’ Christmas gift (also a little late), figure out my finances, probably buy my new iBook, and of course, pack. Oh, and I have to work tomorrow. Oh, well. Nobody ever said the holidays aren’t stressful. :)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!