Sports Widow Holiday Highlights
January 2, 2008 9:20 AM | 0 Comments
Happy New Year to all of you Sports Widows out there!
My wish for you in 2008 is that you achieve ultimate harmony with the Sports Fan/s in your life. Lofty, unachievable? Perhaps. But we can dream, can't we? Here's a rundown of the sports-related events in our household.
Background Noise
Throughout the holiday, I've been hearing the steady sound of sports announcers commentating and my fans yelling in appreciation or dismay, as my Sports Fan Bryan and his sidekick Austin track their performance in the College Football Bowl game picks. It doesn't look promising, so I guess I better send back the new sofa. HA!
A Cajun Christmas Eve
We slurped up our traditional Cajun dish, Shrimp Gumbo, compliments of my sister-in-law Ann (I valiantly tried to replicate this as Chicken Gumbo and will include details in another posting). If you're willing to master the art of making a roux from scratch, this is something you can ladle into a bowl for the upcoming Professional NFL playoffs or The Super Bowl.
A Ping Pong Christmas
Forget the flashy, overrated Nintendo Wii that every other kid at school got this year, Santa gave us a back-to-the-basics, recreational crowd-pleaser: a full-size Ping Pong Table, which now dominates our basement lounge area (Santa's sense of scale and spatial relations may be failing, which explains the spectacles). At 7am on Christmas morning, I was engaged in a fierce ping pong game against a formidable foe, 10-year-old Austin. (Tennis and Ping Pong are the only two games I have a prayer at.) I was reminded of the unconventional strategy I used to employ as a child to instill awe and fear in my opponents: I tapdance vigorously and volley at the same time. This definitely gives me an edge.
The Revenge of the New York Yankees
Much to the chagrin of the Senior Sports Fan in our family, Santa replaced the Junior Sports Fan's lost New York Yankee's wool cap (from Santa last year) with a baseball cap. When Austin sports this hat, he attracts more sneers and hisses than King Herod in a church Christmas play.
Of Ripsticks & Sports Heroes
Austin also received a ripstick, the newest version of a skateboard, which has a mobile center on the order of reticulated buses, and offers even more opportunities for injury. Compliments of Barnes & Noble, Austin received a couple of books from the Sports Heroes and Legends series, which I have been reading to him at bedtime. The books are Alex Rodriguez (Sports Heroes and Legends)
The New Year's Eve Tackle
Since we live in the Northwest, our menu included Steamed Mussels, artisan bread, and Pear/Gorgonzola/Pecan salad, and Pomegranate Splashes were the festive drink of the night. While I was wrestling with my 10-year-old son, one of our guests, an 80-pound First Grade titan, decided he needed to rescue Austin from the clutches of his evil mother and slammed into me with the force of a freight train. I sutained a few bruised ribs and a scraped elbow from the tackle, but it's given me greater respect for football players and the beating they take. Anyway, it's been a while since I've been on the injured list, so I've got that going for me.
That's the news from the Sports Widow's family. I'd love to hear from you, too, and wish you a Happy 2008!
The Sports Widow
(aka Nan Hall)
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