Christmas
12/22
Since I waited until after work to leave (and pack), it was about 11:00 by the time I arrived in Waco (though I did stop in College Station for a milkshake and to fill up on gas). There were leftovers to be eaten for dinner and candy to be eaten for dessert (fudge, pralines, mint patties, and, best of all, toffee).
Thom had arrived in town that day, so we went for beer. Finding Cricket's mysteriously closed, we ended up at Scruff's. It's times like those that it becomes clear just how used to Houston I've become—there aren't always a whole lot of viable bar options in Waco. Bennett joined us and we played some pool.
12/23
Becca and I ran some errands—primarily, Dad wanted us to pick up some caps he had requested from Brazos Equipment for the Louisiana Wards. Becca got to test drive my car for the first time. Going in Brazos equipment, one might think that it was just a store whose purpose is to sell John Deere-branded merchandise (Becca had to buy a shirt). Apparently they rent tractors and shit there, too.
The next step was to pick up some things at HEB, and Rebecca and I determined that we should make some guacamole, which turned out well. Man, I miss conveniently-located HEBs...
Mom and I picked up some Schmaltz sandwiches (for my non-Waco readers, Schlotzky's, but better) for dinner. Man, I miss Schmaltz's.
I called Thom up after dinner and we went on up to Cricket's for beer. Thom had bought a little computer hardware off of me, a debt that I collected in beer. The waitress looked at us a little strangely when I kept telling her to put stuff on Thom's tab, until Thom cut me off (bastard).
Win showed up when he got off work. Good beer, good times.
12/24
We started out Christmas Eve by taking some Christmas-y foods to our former maid. She'd recently moved into one of Waco's several projects, this one, actually pretty close to where Randa resides, over in East Waco.
We returned, got ready for church, attended Seventh & James' Christmas Eve service, did some obligatory socializing, and then went for dinner at Ninfa's. Dad and I split a chicken dish that used to be an off-the-menu item, made with ham, shrimp, marasala (maybe?), and mushrooms, served over rice. Excellent. We looked at Christmas lights afterwards.
12/25
Dad made us a great breakfast of brown sugar bacon and cheese grits. After that, we opened presents. Here's what I got:
The Torrances (including Cousin Jer with some Lonestar in tow) showed up in the early afternoon. We had a nice Christmas dinner. Jer wanted to get out of the house, so I volunteered to go with him to see that moveie with Johnny Knoxville where he tries to get into the Special Olympics, but, tragically, we decided the line was too long.
Thom came over a little later and we went out to Treff's for some drinks and pool. The Christmas Day Pub Crawl didn't quite live up to, say, the events of last year (no naked girls, and Thom didn't have to go to the emergency room), but it's not quite complete without Win and David.
12/26
The last few times I had been in town, I'd intended to make it by George's for dinner and it hadn't materialized. This time, I insisted, and Thom and I went there for some healthy servings of beer and fried things. We started with the fried jalapeño slices and Shiner Big Os, and then moved on to burgers.
We dropped by the movie theater to see if there was anything worth catching, but Thom's pickier than I am. Eventually we heard from Robyn, who was meeting some MHS alums up at Scruff's. We went there, played some pool, Bennett showed up and Robyn arrived, followed soon by Clay Rodman, Wes Roden, Daniel/Donnie "Pappy" Loa (formerly of Funkafeltafish), and Becca Long. None of these (with the exception of Robyn) were ever in our close circle of friends. I've always found these random hometown encounters where you end up hanging out with people you never hung out with in high school to be an interesting phenomenon.
The cool black bartender introduced me to the Ziegen Bock/Jack Daniels combo, which is surprisingly likable.
It was enjoyable for a while, but Thom, Bennett and I eventually were ready to move on, and so we went and ended our night with some Taco C. I was disturbed to discover that the porch had been closed off, and was devoid of the long tables that once hosted large groups of Seventh & Jamesers. Nothing stays the same...
Since I waited until after work to leave (and pack), it was about 11:00 by the time I arrived in Waco (though I did stop in College Station for a milkshake and to fill up on gas). There were leftovers to be eaten for dinner and candy to be eaten for dessert (fudge, pralines, mint patties, and, best of all, toffee).
Thom had arrived in town that day, so we went for beer. Finding Cricket's mysteriously closed, we ended up at Scruff's. It's times like those that it becomes clear just how used to Houston I've become—there aren't always a whole lot of viable bar options in Waco. Bennett joined us and we played some pool.
12/23
Becca and I ran some errands—primarily, Dad wanted us to pick up some caps he had requested from Brazos Equipment for the Louisiana Wards. Becca got to test drive my car for the first time. Going in Brazos equipment, one might think that it was just a store whose purpose is to sell John Deere-branded merchandise (Becca had to buy a shirt). Apparently they rent tractors and shit there, too.
The next step was to pick up some things at HEB, and Rebecca and I determined that we should make some guacamole, which turned out well. Man, I miss conveniently-located HEBs...
Mom and I picked up some Schmaltz sandwiches (for my non-Waco readers, Schlotzky's, but better) for dinner. Man, I miss Schmaltz's.
I called Thom up after dinner and we went on up to Cricket's for beer. Thom had bought a little computer hardware off of me, a debt that I collected in beer. The waitress looked at us a little strangely when I kept telling her to put stuff on Thom's tab, until Thom cut me off (bastard).
Win showed up when he got off work. Good beer, good times.
12/24
We started out Christmas Eve by taking some Christmas-y foods to our former maid. She'd recently moved into one of Waco's several projects, this one, actually pretty close to where Randa resides, over in East Waco.
We returned, got ready for church, attended Seventh & James' Christmas Eve service, did some obligatory socializing, and then went for dinner at Ninfa's. Dad and I split a chicken dish that used to be an off-the-menu item, made with ham, shrimp, marasala (maybe?), and mushrooms, served over rice. Excellent. We looked at Christmas lights afterwards.
12/25
Dad made us a great breakfast of brown sugar bacon and cheese grits. After that, we opened presents. Here's what I got:
- Arrested Development Seasons 1 & 2
- The OC Season 2
- Bloc Party, Silent Alarm
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minnish Cap
- Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within
- X-Men: Legends
- In The Aeroplane Over the Sea from Continuum's 33 1/3 series of books
- Lots of cash which is going to come in handy in a few weeks
- A nice Banana Republic shirt from Rebecca
The Torrances (including Cousin Jer with some Lonestar in tow) showed up in the early afternoon. We had a nice Christmas dinner. Jer wanted to get out of the house, so I volunteered to go with him to see that moveie with Johnny Knoxville where he tries to get into the Special Olympics, but, tragically, we decided the line was too long.
Thom came over a little later and we went out to Treff's for some drinks and pool. The Christmas Day Pub Crawl didn't quite live up to, say, the events of last year (no naked girls, and Thom didn't have to go to the emergency room), but it's not quite complete without Win and David.
12/26
The last few times I had been in town, I'd intended to make it by George's for dinner and it hadn't materialized. This time, I insisted, and Thom and I went there for some healthy servings of beer and fried things. We started with the fried jalapeño slices and Shiner Big Os, and then moved on to burgers.
We dropped by the movie theater to see if there was anything worth catching, but Thom's pickier than I am. Eventually we heard from Robyn, who was meeting some MHS alums up at Scruff's. We went there, played some pool, Bennett showed up and Robyn arrived, followed soon by Clay Rodman, Wes Roden, Daniel/Donnie "Pappy" Loa (formerly of Funkafeltafish), and Becca Long. None of these (with the exception of Robyn) were ever in our close circle of friends. I've always found these random hometown encounters where you end up hanging out with people you never hung out with in high school to be an interesting phenomenon.
The cool black bartender introduced me to the Ziegen Bock/Jack Daniels combo, which is surprisingly likable.
It was enjoyable for a while, but Thom, Bennett and I eventually were ready to move on, and so we went and ended our night with some Taco C. I was disturbed to discover that the porch had been closed off, and was devoid of the long tables that once hosted large groups of Seventh & Jamesers. Nothing stays the same...
posted by L. Maxwell Ward at 8:54 PM
