Two days till Christmas

Today was awesome.  I had a non-eventful last day of work, then came home to hang with my boy.  (Aaron has to close tonight, so he left when I got home.)  We went over my parents' house, where my sister was meeting us as well, so we could surprise my Dad with his big Christmas present.  My Mom, my sister, and I pitched in and got him tickets to see Johnny Mathis in San Antonio on January 8th and he loved it!  It shocked him speechless when he first saw the tickets, but he seemed excited after it started to sink in.  See, there's something you need to understand about my Dad & Johnny Mathis ...

Johnny Mathis is my Dad's singing superhero.  Johnny was the guy he listened to while we were growing up, the guy who sang us our favorite Christmas albums every year on crackly-sounding albums, the guy who my Dad wishes he could sing like himself.  And since Mr. Mathis is at the ripe old age of 73 nowadays, he doesn't tour much.  My Dad has only seem him live one time, about 30 years ago, and he told me when I was a teenager that he wanted to see him one more time before one of them died.  Well, the planets aligned and fate smiled down on my father, because he's finally going to get his wish in less than 3 weeks.  I am so happy for him!

I know what it's like to yearn to see a specific band or artist in person.  I can completely empathize with my Dad in that respect, which is why making this happen became so fun.  The show is in San Antonio, at the lovely Majestic Theater.  I hope it's as magical for my Dad as I'm building it up to be in my mind.  I have visions of Johnny on stage, singing all the old songs that meant so much to my Dad in his formative years, sounding as good as he used to on all those old albums ... please let that be the way it turns out!

So, needless to say, I think my Dad is happy with our group gift this year, and is really looking forward to the big night.

Mr. Happy

After the big presentation, my sister went home, & my parents, Zach & I went to grab a late dinner.  It was nice to just hang out with them, catch up some, and laugh.  A lot.  We always seem to laugh a lot when we're all together.

Zach passed out on the way home, but I had to wake him since he has this new bed.  There ain't no way Mama is crawling up the ladder on that bed with him in my arms, so he had to climb up there himself.  As for me, I thought about baking a little right now, but my eyes are getting heavier by the minute.  I think I'll crawl into bed, pop in an Arrested Development DVD, and set my alarm crazy early to get up and bake.  It's nearly midnight, so I don't think I could see this recipe through, it takes a while.

Here are the things I was grateful for today:

1.  Being able to pull off this surprise for my Dad.

2.  My Mom.

3.  Bread pudding.

Until tomorrow ...