Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

MGN spent the holiday watching the children open gifts and play with them all day. My wife took that old clichéd afternoon nap and I was definitely tempted to do the same, but I wanted to watch a little Spurs vs Thunder. I haven’t taken fully to the NFL on Christmas Day and so I abstained, but my sister-in-law went to the game in DC. Good times.

I hope your day was restful, mirthful, merry, and bright.

We have a bowl game to cover, and obsess over, but very quickly after that we close the year. This has been a banner year — the football squad reached heights never before. The basketball team closed a chapter and began a new one. The plan for us is to continue this little endeavor into the new year and do it at least one more time.

This year we mixed up some of the movies — we watched the 1984 A Christmas Carol starring George C. Scott. Very good. As I get older I find myself understanding Scrooge a little more and more. Like, for example the fact that it has been a long time since I was in school and I can look back over my life in stages in that same way. It is a little jarring. It was almost six years ago or so that I really started seeing Home Alone through the parents’ eyes instead of Kevin’s. Same with The Santa Clause.

This last month has been so busy that I don’t think I have been fully into the Christmas spirit as in years’ past. There has been a fog of fatigue or something. I am breaking through that — thanks to a nice nap the other day. I find a good portion of my responsibility is to control that feeling and make sure I am present and pleasant for my children.

A theme throughout all the holiday movies is about making time for people you love. Dickens’ classic story is about a man who forgot to do that for decades and needed supernatural intervention. Frank Capra’s story is about a man who always made time, but regretted having to do it one more time. These are just stories, but they endure because we — as a culture — hold them valuable.

Again, I hope you are enjoying your time with the people you care about. Thanks for spending a little with MGN.