Holiday: The family, NYC wing, was together recently for a big birthday. The quick turnaround went fairly well, though unfortunately a couple wound up being sick on Christmas. My sis-in-law did something more should do, if it is their want, and read a bit from Matthew before the gifts were opened (the whole three kings bringing gifts thing). And, though me and my brother couldn't quite figure out how to hook up the DVD, the whole holiday went pretty much without a hitch (excepting that bit of sickness). Not to be cynical, but when you are dealing with family and everything else, that is no small affair.
Football: Week 16 had some good games, starting with a Packers/Vikings game on Christmas Eve that had some crazy moments. The craziness of the football gods was suggested by the Vikings scoring twenty-one points on three plays (regular drive and two drives of one play), but managing but three offensive points in the Second Half (Packers won and won division ... ex-Packer Reggie White died [too young] a few days later). There still is a meaningful game left (Rams/Eagles), but the weekend itself ended with a match-up of 3-11 teams with Miami winning 10-7 on a long field goal as time about expired. After all, someone had to win the darn game, and OT would be a bit too much.
NY did not have any good games. The NY Giants lost by one point, but had to try rather hard to manage to give the game away. Field goal (in the Red Zone) after field goal, the possibility of the key play seemed ever so close. The win seemed there when Cincy was 4th and 10 with under two minutes to play. The win seemed there even after Cincy scored, but the Giants got the ball back with two times out in Cincy territory. Final interception ... '03 eight game lost streak matched. The Jets played bad all day ... after the QB's recent prima donna act, the sportswriters must have written in glee how he again could not handle that big game.
Movie: This year's family movie on Christmas Day was Spanglish from the maker of As Good As It Gets, which was the pick a few years back. A decent pick, especially with not many others that the bunch would like (I have numerous movie gift certificates and nothing I really want to see), though it didn't quite add up to a complete movie.
Adam Sandler was impressive, again showing that he could play calm and repressed without the shouting and antics. Téa Leoni had the misfortune of playing an over the top character, who isn't given enough good parts. The character's mom was overdrawn, but less offensive. OTOH, the other characters played off each other pretty well, including some very good scenes. Still, the movie had a rough draft feel to it, decent enough it may have been.