Christmas time in hippieville

In just two short days Jose, Fred, and I will make the hellish 12 hour trek to Michigan so we can celebrate the holidays by binge drinking with our family and high school friends, and playing in the snow and shit.

Since we already have about fifty tons of presents and various other luggage related items to pack into the back of my Scion with our 100 pound baby dog, we opted to exchange our gifts for each other ahead of time so we didn't need to pack them up just to bring them back after Christmas. And also we just love the holiday so it is fun to celebrate twice!

So we had our own little Christmas last Friday. And it was pretty damn great.

The evening started as any celebration must, with cocktails. White Russians to be exact.

We got the Christmas carols jamming on the iPod, then proceeded to make a great dinner, open gifts and stockings, bake four dozen cookies, eat way too many cookies, and then pass out in cookie and vodka induced comas.

Don't get me wrong, I love presents. Who doesn't right? But, the older I get the less I want and need. I am at a point in my life where for the most part if I want something I go out and buy it. I am not really very materialistic these days (though I certainly was at one time) so I have come to really appreciate just little heartfelt gifts above any other type. I always tell Jose not to get me anything big and that we will instead go on a trip or something because like me, there aren't many things he needs. Every year though he ignores me and buys me a shit ton of stuff.

The thing about Jose though is that he somehow manages to find just the perfect gifts. He is a thoughtful one that manfriend of mine. I guess I am sort of lucky.

This year like expected he got me way too much stuff, but I figured I would tell you about the thing that was the most special to me. Everything else I got will make you realize I am just a giant hippie that likes to hike and camp and I don't want to ruin my image.

But anyway, a few Valentine's days ago Jose bought me a really pretty ceramic watch. I loved it. I wore it almost every day. Until one hungover morning when I dropped the sucker on a sidewalk and it shattered that is. I took it back to the store to see if it could be repaired and it could not. For whatever reason the clerk took pity on me and even though it was damaged and over a year old she returned it and gave me store credit. So I have since been searching every store I set foot in for a watch I like to replace it. The problem is I am so damn picky and I loved that one so much so the gift card sits in my wallet and no watch has been purchased.

So this year when I opened my last gift under the tree and saw the very watch I ruined I nearly peed my pants. I was so excited. And then Jose told me the story of the new watch. Not only had he replaced the one I loved so much but he went through hell and highwater to do so. He wasn't able to find the old watch in any stores or online since they don't make it anymore. So he found a broken one on EBay, ordered it and then took it to pretty much every jewelry repair shop in American before finally finding a company that would fix the watch. He had it repaired and cleaned up and it looks good as new. And I am so amazed that a big laid back guy like Jose took the time and thought to do that for me.

I think that is my favorite part of the holidays, just the way little things like the perfect gift, a song you love, the taste of a cookie, or the glow of a Christmas tree can just make you feel like all is right with the world. Ohh and all the holiday cocktails, I love those a lot too.

This is how I found Fred Friday night....