Let’s have Patrick Swayze Christmas, one and all!

So, Christmas. That was nice, wasn’t it?

I’d like to say I spent the day recovering, but the holidays weren’t too stressful this year, all things considered, and I was off the entire week before then, with another week still to go. I spent today, mostly, just lying around. I read a little, on my shiny new eBook reader — about which more later — and watched some new DVDs and DVR’ed television. (I’m really enjoying TNT’s new show Leverage, whereas the MST3K riffing of Bloodlust is on pause right now.) I also played with the dog a little, indulged in a few leftover Christmas cookies, and sent out a happy holidays note on behalf of Kaleidotrope to various and sundry — enough various and sundry, apparently, to get my sending privileges temporarily disabled by GMail. (I promise, my intention was not to spam.)

We went out to eat on Christmas Eve — me, my parents, my aunt and uncle, and my sister Catherine and her now fiancé Brian — who I gather spent most of Wednesday afternoon sitting in traffic, driving in from Maryland. I’d spent most of the afternoon reading Kaleidotrope slush and sending out some acceptance e-mails. (I couldn’t bring myself to write rejections on Christmas Eve.) After dinner, we all came back to the house for coffee and cookies. Of course, I think we were too stuffed after dinner to make much of a dent in the cookies — much less the enormous apple pie my aunt and uncle brought with them — but it was a very pleasant evening all the same. I spent the last couple of hours before bed capping holiday fare and wishing everyone over there well.

Then it was Christmas. Luckily, my sister seems to have outgrown the habit of waking us all up at the crack of dawn to open presents, and I managed to sleep in a little. (She hasn’t outgrown the habit of playing our parents’ Holiday Sing-Along with Mitch Miller CD, but that’s another story.) We had an early dinner at another aunt and uncle’s house, since they’re moving to North Carolina at the end of December, and much fun and many presents were had by all.

Among mine was a brand new eBook reader.

I’m really impressed with it so far, even if I have spent more time figuring out what to load onto it than actually using it. (Many thanks to Heather for suggesting ManyBooks.net…as well, actually, as the reader itself.) I think when I get back to my regular daily commute the second week of January, I’ll get more of a chance to use it on a regular basis. It really seems very intuitive, looks easy to read, and doesn’t feel at all weird in my hands. There’s some heft to it, but considerably less than you’d find in a larger hardcover book. And I find the idea of loading Kaleidotrope slush onto it — rather than printing that slush out or reading it on a computer monitor — incredibly appealing.

I probably should finish the ink-and-paper book I’m currently reading — Dracula, which I’m almost surprised to be enjoying so much — before taking on anything else. And then there are the books I got for Christmas — Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book and Kim “Howard” Johnson’s Monty Python’s Tunisian Holiday among them — that I really want to check out. But I’ve got to say: the eBook reader really looks cool.

There really could be something to this electronic publishing thing.

My sister goes back to Maryland on Sunday, although Brian had to head back early this morning for work. No immediate wedding plans yet, but I think they’re hoping for late 2009 if possible. (His sister is getting married in July, apparently.) I don’t know if this puts more or less pressure on me to be next, but I’m very happy for them

So that, more or less, was my Christmas. Hard to believe there’s only a week left until 2009.