1.16.2010

Finishing Christmas 2009

Yes, Christmas was over three weeks ago, but today my family finally got around to finishing our exchange of presents. Emma and I, along with my sister, were supposed to go to Iowa to spend Christmas Eve with my family there, but because of the weather, that trip was cancelled. Then my sister spent two weeks galavanting about the Galapagos Islands, returning home last Saturday. So yesterday my mom drove up from Iowa, and we all got together this afternoon at my sister's house to complete our celebrating of Christmas.

We had a good time together today. Emma especially enjoyed the presents she received, although my sister's cat kept scaring her. Prior to Christmas, my sister had told me that she thought she got me the best Christmas present ever. That really intrigued me, and for days after that, I was trying to figure out what she could possibly have gotten me. Well, while my sister was on her South American vacation, one of her friends, with whom I am also friends on Facebook, let it slip that my sister was giving me an Atari 2600. This mutual friend had indicated a couple of months ago that she was selling hers, I guessed that my sister had decided to buy it. Anyway, not wanting to ruin the surprise, I didn't tell my sister about it, and I figured she wouldn't see our Facebook conversation since she was riding around in a boat in the Pacific Ocean while that conversation took place. I did tell my wife though that I had accidentally found out about the present.

So this afternoon, I opened the present from my sister and was quite surprised when I saw an Oral B Vitality electric toothbrush in a rather large box. There was something under the toothbrush though, so I continued through the box only to discover that she had weighed it down with softballs to make it appear as if it had held more. I had really expected the Atari to be in the box, so I was a bit disappointed, although I tried to appear not to be. After we were done opening presents and had cleaned up, we ordered pizza for dinner. I went to pick it up. While I was away, I was wondering if my sister had figured out that I knew about the Atari. I thought maybe it would be out when I got back with the pizza, but when I returned with the pizza, it still was not present. After dinner, and after viewing my sister's vacation photos, I loaded up our car with the presents we had received. After my last trip to the car, I went back up to get Emma and Mel and was shocked to see a large present on the chair. Of course, this was the Atari 2600.

Apparently another mutual friend of my sister, her friend who originally had the Atari, and me reported to my sister about the conversation regarding the Atari. My sister wasn't too happy about my finding out so she decided to mess with me. Originally she had planned on waiting until I was at the hospital with Mel when the baby was being born, during which time she would place it in our house. However, my mom wanted to see my reaction when I got it. I was quite excited to see the game system in the box once I opened it. There are quite a few games with it as well. I haven't checked out what they all are yet, but I did see Donkey Kong, Frogger, and Pitfall to name a few. I really can not wait to hook it up and give it a try. The only problem is that it only came with one joystick, so I won't be able to play any games requiring the joystick with two players. It did come with two paddles though, so games using that controller will not be a problem.

After expecting the Atari 2600 for the past couple of weeks and not seeing it right away, I was initially a bit disappointed, but I really was getting excited about the electric toothbrush. And while I think I will really like the toothbrush, hopefully it helps prevent me from getting any more cavities, I know I will really enjoy the Atari. Just now as I write this, I can't help but remember the hours I spent at home playing games on the Atari system I won in a coloring contest in the late 1970s. Actually, my game system was a Sears Video Arcade system which was fully compatible with the Atari 2600.

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