insanity? no thanks...

After doing some quick damage control in the kitchen and living room, we headed out to the horrible shopping mall to see if we could find a Boxing Day bargain. Megan's going on a three-day winter adventure with her class at the end of January, so she needs some snow boots and warm gloves. Unfortunately, those things were not to be found at a bargain price in the first store we went to. Jeff slipped into the asian mall to buy some model-building supplies, and then we met up, looked at each other and the crowds of people around us, and decided to make a quick exit. Total time away from home: one hour. Away from the chaos and seething mass of people that is the mall on December 26th, we got to spend an afternoon just hanging out at home. Megan played one of her new video games and listened to her new Jpop CDs, Jeff and Calum spent several hours building Calum's new lego kits, and I finally got a chance to try out the Xbox 360 version of Tiger Woods 2007 which Jeff brought home from work about a month ago. I can't remember the last time that my PGA career received several hours worth of my time at once. :-)

Now the kids are in bed, Jeff's just about done reading to Calum, and we have no bigger decision to make than whether to play golf against each other or watch an episode or two of Battlestar Galactica. I have fond memories of Boxing Day when I was growing up, a day when there was no excitement, no place we needed to go (this was in the good old days when all the stores used to be closed on Boxing Day, and the sales started on the 27th). My mum, my brother and I had a Boxing Day tradition of putting together a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle which my mother purchased for us religiously each Christmas. While we don't always do the puzzle thing here (give Calum a year or two and then it can become something that we can all do together, too), it's nice to spend a day together reminiscent of those Boxing Days of the past. Maybe I'll find a fabulous bargain tomorrow, or some other day.