Christmas Hits and Misses

A quick, but lengthy, summary of the Christmas gift exchange.

The Hits

Audio/Video

• Rufus Wainright, Want Two. Song #4, "Little Sister" is operatically sublime.
• Peter Gabriel's Growing Up Live Tour DVD. Have yet to watch it but I know it's going to be good... Any show featuring a Zorb is worth my patronage.
• Raffi's Baby Beluga for Rei. A classic of my childhood - the evocative title song, the frentic "Joshua Giraffe" and the heartfelt "All I Really Need". It is a good Day O!
• U2, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (actually, Shelley received it). Song #5, "City of Blinding Lights" reminds me of Urs. I can see her cruising the Vegas Strip in a VW, city lights reflected in her shades, this song as the soundtrack to the movie of her life...

Tech

• Wireless Router from Santa. Is this a license for a laptop? Shelley derisively disagrees.
• Braun InterFace Excel rechargable foil shaver. Exactly the model I circled in the Sears catalogue. Braun claims that I "shave the length of an 18-hole golf course every 18 months". I beg to differ.

The written word

• Games magazine. I didn't get the paper on Saturday, missing my weekly New York Times challenge.
• Dan Brown, DaVinci Code. Biblical mystery and intrigue. Secret religious societies and ... other stuff. You can tell I haven't gotten very far in it.

The Misses

• My present for Shelley: New Balance cross trainers for her step class. I was so excited for her to get them. According to salesperson Kyle, it was a better shoe for only $10 more except ... wrong size.
• Present for my dad: Lever pull corkscrew, the 3-second wine bottle opener, featuring "all metal gears". Too bad the plastic housing was cracked. It's OK, we still managed to open La Vielle Ferme for Christmas supper.

All in all, more hits than misses. And isn't that what we want in life?