A Very Merry Christmas, Part 2

Christmas Day!

Christmas morning, Pat and I had a nice breakfast and opened gifts. Pretty standard Christmas stuff. Then, I made trifle for the first time ever. It's a good thing my trifle dish was free so I don't feel too guilty that I've only used it once in the two or three years I've had it. Anyway, the trifle had chocolate cake, butterscotch pudding, whipped cream (homemade, of course!), and heath bar bits and was topped with a little green and red sugar. I am pretty pleased with how it came out; I definitely should've taken a picture.

The trifle was for dinner at my friend and co-worker Julia's parents' house, which was wonderful. Some highlights include Left, Right, Center and Colorado Bulldogs. Both sound kind of suspect when you describe them, but L, R, C is actually really fun and Colorado Bulldogs are delicious. And a little dangerous, since they don't really taste alcoholic. I also have to give a shout out to Julia's family. They were incredibly nice and they were so welcoming you'd hardly have known we were strangers. It was really nice of them to invite us into their home on Christmas and give us a place to go while we're so far away from our own families.

After dinner, Pat and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire (more on that and the six other movies we've seen in the last week later) and then headed to 37th Street to look at the Christmas lights. I always love looking at Christmas lights, but being able to walk down the street in a light sweatshirt on Christmas night to do it was especially nice. Boy, was I in for a surprise when we actually saw the lights, though. Folks from not-Austin, let me tell you, this isn't your usual Candy Cane Lane or whatever neighborhood you have in your town where people go nuts decorating their houses and lawns with winter wonderland scenes. These were, in true Austin style, weird. One house had the Flying Spaghetti Monster depicted in Christmas lights; another had a giant shark made of tinfoil; one had a chandelier made of the top halves of nude Barbies; one depicted the economic and political landscape of the U.S. in the last year, complete with cardboard Obama cutout; and one had a display in which a plastic dragon was fornicating with a plastic armadillo. I'm actually not kidding. It was delightful! Traditionalist that I am, I do have to say that from a purely aesthetic standpoint my favorite was the house with the Austin skyline in lights, but they were all great. I'm still kicking myself for not bringing my camera, but this will give you an idea.