Donna got a Wii for graduation. The primary person who plays it is Claire who knows she better not even ask on a school night. Usually Claire’s MO on a Friday is get home from school pop in a movie, check her DVR list from the week or boot up the Wii. Tonight it was Wii. She began with some of the basic Wii generic games like Frisbee.

I hesitated for years about getting a gaming system in my own home. I remember college, high school and younger when we’d get into a game and play until the sun came up (literally). I finally acquiesced and knew I’d stay away. Well, Donna came home and we were enjoying watching Claire play so we decided to play a game with her. We picked Super Mario Bros because a) we only had to of the extra little pack thingies that go on the remote and b) cause, it’s totally Old Skool (I killed it on Nintendo 64).

It was 7pm. We started playing. We had such a great time, yelling at the tv, spilling over our beer (me, not Claire), having Donna video record us jumping around, etc… At ten til 9pm we made Claire go to bed, saved the game, and turned off the console before we played well into the night.

This was truly the very best night we three had together in a long time. Awesome awesome.

Last night my mother’s cousin and my father’s cousin both visited us and after spending some time in the kitchen around appetizers and drinks, we all moved into the living room where my sister turned on the Wii. My dad and his cousin played for awhile but then Claire wanted to play. They flipped from electronic darts to shuffleboard where you need to swing the remote to compete. Claire grabbed a remote and more or less challenged everyone in the room. She’d never played Wii before but quickly picked up the idea of how to play. Within an hour, she was beating everyone at Wii shuffle board and was ready to move onto Mario Kart.

We flew home last week, and the grandparents sure did spoil Claire this Christmas. For the past several years we’ve stayed at my parent’s house for Christmas Eve, so Claire could wake up and open gifts there. This year Donna wanted a bit of a change, and since now my sister and brother both (including my sister’s boyfriend) were all at my parent’s house, we really didn’t have a place to sleep there. On Christmas Eve we hung out around my in-laws house before heading to my parent’s house for dinner. It was me, Donna, Claire, Dad, Mum, Jaime, Meghan, Jon and Johann (not to mention the ancient mutt under foot and Cheyenne, the orange cow (as Claire calls my dad’s golden retriever who is way TOO Fat!), my mum’s cat, and my sister’s twin black cats. All crammed into a cape cod style house is enough to make my mother demand a new house before Christmas 2009.

After dinner, we three headed to our annual Christmas party at Tom and Paula’s house in West Mifflin where we’d meet up with the in-laws and brother-in-law, Danny. Claire had a great time playing with the little girl who is a year older than her; they only see each other every Christmas Eve and the last two years they’ve been old enough to care about playing with each other. After the group photo and some well wishes, we headed back to my in-laws around midnight.

When Donna and Danny were younger the family supposedly opened presents later, but now that Claire’s here, she was up and at ‘em relatively early (not as early as I liked to open when I was young!). She got some outfits, several toys (mostly educational type things), and some other gear. I bought her a blue and pink Timbuk2 customized tote, which she always told everyone were her favorite colors (until this week, when she says she now likes purple and green! Ugh). Her old swim bag was falling apart, and these bags are so well made that she can use it for years to come.

As for the wife, she’d been asking for a new digital camera. Her old one was a few years old and really sluggish. I’d been searching for the perfect one for a few months, and I finally got a great deal at CostCo. Personally, I’d been drooling over the MinoHD Flip video cameras. Donna had shown interest in one on Black Friday, but I knew for a little more I could get the nice HD model. This gift had been near the front of the pile of gifts since I’d been eager to give her one for weeks! She loved both gifts and the other little things. My in-laws got me Ebay gift cards, which’ll work well for a new sleeping bag. Danny got Donna a gift card for Sprint to buy the new purple Lotus that she keeps drooling over (she’s not gotten a new phone since 2004!). I can’t wait to get him to take her to Sprint.

Later after lunchtime, we went to my parent’s. Claire fell asleep in the car so we all opened “big people” gifts for awhile until she woke up. Donna bought me the Charlaine Harris’ (TrueBlood) vampire books; I didn’t know they came in a box set so I was totally stoked when I opened them. I got her a Timbuk2 gift card so she could order herself a bag, since she really wanted to pick her own. My parents got both of us Apple gift cards (Donna towards a new MacBook and me towards maybe Bose earphones). Claire got dolls, some clothes, etc… She got the blue cat (from Mama) and the pink doggie (from Auntie Meghan via Santa), and she was totally stoked.

Meghan and Jon made out with Wii and Rock Band 2. We hooked up the Wii and played Rock Band late into the night, but we have no idea how to unlock the codes. (Comment below if you do know. We have to cheat codes, but can’t figure out HOW to input them.)

Christmas was a blessed day with thoughtfulness, happiness and family.