Wednesday, January 7, 2015

For the First Time Ever

My first 13 Christmases were spent at home, without any sort of celebration (unless the day happened to coincide with Hanukkah). I spent my next 16 Christmases in movie theaters and Chinese restaurants. Then I met my wife. The past 8 Christmases have been more "traditional" in their yuletide cheer: trees and gifts and ham and cookies and gifts. And for some reason, myrrh.

And yet, despite this year being Christmas #37 (of a sort), I still managed many Christmas firsts...
  • For the first time ever, I saw It's a Wonderful Life. Wow. Jimmy Stewart is an amazing actor.
     
  • For the first time ever, I saw Elf. Wow. Will Ferrell is an actor.
     
  • For the first time ever, I performed a christening. Only afterward did I learn it's not traditionally done with two bottles of wine, and also there's no reason to ever christen a driveway. But in my defense I'm still relatively new to all this stuff.
     
  • For the first time ever, I watched grown men battle for victory in perhaps the most hotly contested game of dreidel ever — a game that did not involve real money or real chocolate. The lone Jew (me) was ousted first, leaving six Catholics to vie for the crown — and there wasn't even a real crown.
     
  • And for the first time ever, I watched my three-year-old son receive a Nerf gun that shoots darts up to 100 feet, weighs nearly 5 pounds, and is 4 inches taller than he is. Thanks a lot, Tim.

7 comments:

  1. HAH! That gun is AMAZING!
    I've never seen It's a Wonderful Life, and Elf is one of those movies, i think, that get's better on subsequent rewatches (like most of Ferrell's stuff, i think)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I'm not disparaging Elf. It was a cute film. I am, however, disparaging Ferrell's acting. Especially compared to Stewart's. (He's great in Stranger Than Fiction, but outside of that, I find him somewhat amusing at best.)

      Delete
  2. That gun is epic!!!!
    Your driveway is safe for voyages now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, that gun is something, alright. I'm not looking forward to father-hunting season. But at least now I know I can escape using my drivewayship.

      Delete
  3. My son and I shared many happy memories revolving around Nerf weapons. One helpful suggestion: show him how to line up stuffed animals and shoot them down. That will give you a little breathing room. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd actually been thinking of lining up action figures as targets, but you're absolutely right: We don't have any of those yet.

      Look out, stuffed animals. It's wabbit season.

      Delete
  4. Blimey, that gun is quite something! Glad you were finally able to have the complete Christmas experience!

    ReplyDelete