This year Joy and I spent Christmas at her parents house in Choctaw, Oklahoma. We left town a day earlier than we had originally planned because there was a big cold front coming through and we didn’t’ want to get stuck on the interstate like we did one year. We left on a Thursday evening and stopped in Little Rock, AR for the night. In the morning, we met some of Joy’s cousins for breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel and then hit the road for OKC. When we left, the temperature was a balmy 70° in Little Rock. As we drove towards her parents house, the temps steadily dropped. When we finally arrived about 5 hours later, it was raining steadily and the temp had dropped to 30°! It’s a good thing we decided to leave early because it was pretty nasty out the next day. Here’s what our car looked like the next morning:
Needless to say, we spent most of Saturday just lounging around the house watching TV and playing games. On Sunday, most of the roads had cleared and there were only a few icy spots left, so we were able to make it to church. Joy sang a solo during the service and I stood with her and her family for a reading and lighting of the Advent candle. Late Sunday night, we were all getting pretty tired and were getting ready to turn in when just a few houses down there arouse such a clatter. I leashed up the dogs and went to see what was the matter. There were dozens of cars and a valet down the street. Thirty minutes later we began to hear this rhythmic beat. The reason OKC was so cold that night, Vanilla Ice was performing just two doors down to the right! Joy told me that the guy living a few doors down is a concert promoter or something and he had Vanilla Ice at his house to perform for friends and family. I didn’t believe it at first, so I went to Ice’s Twitter page, and sure enough, he was in Choctaw, OK!
The next day we decided to head down to Pop’s on Route 66. This landmark features a 66-foot tall soda sculpture out front and features a record-breaking selection of over 600 ice-cold sodas and beverages! I have a few favorites that I always look for whenever we’re in OK. Sadly, they only have on of my faves so I bought a six-pack. One of my friends, Ben, wanted me to grab an assortment of sodas for him and I made a deal with him that I’d buy 5 of whatever he wanted if he’d let me pick the 6th soda and he had to drink it in front of our friends. So while at Pop’s, I went to the Sodagusting aisle and took a picture of 5 of the nastiest sodas I could find and I told him to pick his poison.
I didn’t actually pick one the above sodas. Instead I grabbed one called “Pirate’s Piss” and I didn’t notice it until I gave it to him a few days ago, but it was a banana flavored soda. Trooper that he is, he still finished the entire bottle. Christmas was awesome because we got to watch our 2 year old niece Nora tear open and enjoy her presents. Nora is just the cutest thing and quite a handful. She loved our dogs. Greta was extremely patient with Nora, gladly accepting every hug she wanted to give, but Gabby was a little less thrilled with some much attention.
In fact, I think by the end of our stay, Gabby was ready to head on home.
For Christmas, I bought Joy a new monogrammed Egyptian cartouche made of silver and this sweet T.A.R.D.I.S. decal for her Macbook Air. Joy bought me a copy of “Rocksmith 2014” for my PS3. My father-in-law let me borrow one of his electric guitars and I got to try it out briefly, and I gotta say, it was pretty awesome! I guess I know what one of my New Year’s resolutions is going to be now.
