2014 was, like most years, a year full of ups and downs.  Here are a few of the highlights:

I started writing this blog on a (mostly) daily basis.  While I occasionally have had to write a post a day (or even two) late, I have at least written a post for every day since I started in March.

We lost two of our beloved pets: Annie and Domino.

I entered a writing contest and sent my novel to another publisher.  I have not yet heard back about either, but this was the first time in years that I have put my writing out there.  I hope to do more this next year.

We visited Janelle's family in Kansas City, Missouri.  While it was for a sad occasion, the memorial service for Janelle's Aunt Mary, it was nice to meet and spend some time with her extended family.

We took a four day trip to the Upper Peninsula this summer with my parents, my youngest two siblings, and our families.  It was our first sustained trip to destinations other than family members, and was quite enjoyable.

We bought a new car.  Mera, my sea foam pearl Toyota Prius, has already traveled over 10,000 miles since this August.  Our ten year old Saturn Ion is now in the hands of Katrina as she drives to and from Jackson College.

Janelle's brother spent a month in Jackson.  Much of his time was spent building one of the most amazing tree houses that I have seen, but we still had plenty of opportunities to hang out and have fun.

I stopped working at Baker College of Jackson.  Despite the pay cut at my primary job (which also came this year) and eight years of service at Baker, the stress and time commitments were affecting my health to the point that I needed to quit.  While this has made difficulties for our finances, I feel that this decision has made me a better teacher and happier person overall. 

I have been to more funerals than any previous year in my life.  Actually, I've attended more funerals this year than I had in all of the other years of my life combined.  I know that this is a trend that will likely continue to grow as I and the people I know grow older, but I hope that I never get used to it.

I reached my lowest weight in a decade.  While I've gained a bit back during these holidays, I am still over ten pounds lighter at the end of the year than I was at the start of it.  I still have a while to go before I get to what's considered a healthy (let alone ideal) weight, but it's a start.

There was a great deal more, but that's all that's coming to mind at the moment.  There was more that I had wanted to accomplish, but I also met several of my resolutions.  I hope 2015 is at least as good as 2014 has been for me.

This has been a harder Christmas season for me than normal as our finances have been tighter than usual.  This isn't to say that our finances are tighter than they have ever been.  The truth is that we are much better off than we were a decade ago, it's just that we no longer allow ourselves to borrow from our future.  No credit cards, no student loans to fall back on.  We are four years away from paying off our credit cards.  I have at least another year at the same level of salary that I am now (and that level might last a great deal longer) which is 16% below where I was supposed to be this year.

I usually spend the most that I spend during the holiday season since it also corresponds with my birthday.  I know that material objects shouldn't be sought as a source of happiness, but I have tended to associate this time of year with getting and playing with new things.  Instead, I have not been able to take advantage of the pre and post holiday specials that fill the newspaper ads and my inbox.  Considering the lack of snow, this holiday season has felt the least like the holidays when compared to any of the previous holiday seasons that I can remember.

However, the fact is that I am actually quite blessed.  I have a number of games, toys, books, etc. that I have never gotten around to playing, using, or reading.  While it is easy to look with envy at the things which friends and family members might have that I do not, I have a great deal more than most of the people in the world.  I am better off not having "more."  

I have a wonderful and loving family.  I have good friends.  I am still reasonably healthy (let's not talk about my blood pressure; even thinking about doing so raises my blood pressure).  I am enjoying my job more than I ever have (the job itself, not the bureaucracy and politics surrounding it).  I feel loved.

I need to stop moping because of stuff and rejoice more in what I have.

Wizards of the Coast has introduced yet another version of Dungeons and Dragons.  This time (unlike 4th edition) the version underwent a year of play-testing from a large number of gaming enthusiasts.  I like what I've seen of the system, but I have a few concerns:

1. The books are not well organized.  None of the D&D books have been great when it comes to organization, but I was downright confused by the organization and information set-up of the new books.  It took nearly a full read-through for me to find some of the information that I was looking for, and I'm still perplexed as to why they placed some of their information where they did.

2. The game under-powers characters.  To a degree, I like this point as I feel that 3.5 (and 3.6) make characters a little too over-powered, but (as my wife pointed out to me) the point of playing these games is to be a person who's larger than life.  Capping ability scores at 20 and magic bonuses at +3 are artificial ways to "balance" the game (and will no doubt be amended with later books).

3. The books are expensive.  Third edition came out at $20 a book.  3.5 books were around $30 a book.  Granted, that was 14 years ago, but these new books are $50 a book.  I already have hundreds of dollars worth of 3.5 books (many given to me as gifts from friends, some bought at discount), and my friends have put a good deal of money into that system as well.  Having everyone (or at least every family) who plays with us put up at least $50 for the Player's Handbook seems a bit steep.

That said, I do like some of the changes (especially the additions of advantage, disadvantage, inspiration, and hero points) and have incorporated them into my own Home-brewed D&D 3.6, as well as some other changes.

Today's mass was all about family and the importance of trusting in God.  Today is also the feast of the Holy Innocents (the children of Bethlehem that King Herod put to death when he learned that a king had been born there).  In my mind, these sit as opposites: children who are granted through the Lord's promise and children who were taken away because of it.

In a sense, Christ is both.  In today's mass we sang a song called "Wood of the Cradle" which draws comparisons between the wood used to make the manger that held the infant Christ and the wood used to make the cross that held the crucified Christ.  Fulfillment in granting life and fulfillment through sacrifice are intricately tied together in Christian tradition.

Our homily focused on the importance of living like the holy family and the importance of family.  For me, my family is everything; they are all that I have worked and suffered for.  I do not claim to be the perfect father; I know that I am far from that, but I have tried to do what I could to give them a strong example, to raise them in the Catholic faith, and to give them the best chance that they have in life.  I trust in God that He will lead them down the correct paths. 

Were I to run for a federal office, the primary plank of my platform would be exploration and expansion.  More than anything, I believe that we need to continue to explore our Earth and the heavens above it.  There is more to the continents, to the sea, and to the sky than we have yet conceived, let alone experienced.

As a teacher and student of history, I can't help but reflect on this one truism: empires fall soon after they stop seeking to expand.  We have the technology to put humankind  farther than we have and we have the knowledge needed to push the technology so that we can go even beyond that.  As we become more isolationist and tighten our borders we will find that rather than protecting ourselves, we are tying our own noose.

Zheng Hu's massive fleets of ships were left to rot and now the Ming are mostly known for their vases.  It was the pitifully small countries of Portugal and the newly formed Spain that sent our their tiny exploring vessels and benefited from their new connections.  And when they decided to try pull back their exploration, it was the Dutch, French, and British who took their place.

Again and again, it is the initiative to explore that creates new empires while old empires rot on their laurels.  Our frontiers are daunting, but no less daunting than the frontiers were to the explorers of old.  We must explore, and expand, or lose ourselves entirely.

I know that this often puts me in the minority opinion, but I have been rather depressed about the lack of snow.  Sure, we got a nice little amount around Thanksgiving, and I feel quite blessed that we got the little that we did on Christmas Eve, but I suppose that I'm a little greedy in this area.  I've always liked the snow.  There's something about seeing it cover the ground and trees that brings peace to my soul.

Currently, the sun's been down for a while and the temperature is still reading 44 degrees outside.  While the forecast says that we will be below freezing by next week, there's nothing in it about snow.  We just watched the movie "White Christmas" which was dealing with a similar issue.  While many people probably consider the resolved romances of the movie to be the happy ending, I believe that it was when they opened the door to find that it was snowing.

Let it snow.  Let it snow.  Let it snow. 

I am running on very little sleep after several late nights followed by early mornings.  Thus, I was not the happiest that my sons decided to wake us early to open the presents that my wife had placed under the tree after they went to bed.  That said, their expressions of joy made this day worth the sleep deprivation.  

Rowen was particularly happy getting his Jake the Pirate hideout and game (which we played several times).  Connor finally got the skateboard (with knee and elbow pads - he already had wrist guards and a helmet) that he has been begging for since last year.  He even took it outside today (for five minutes before complaining that it was too cold).  Trevor was most interested in his Starcraft Risk game (of which we only played one round and a half before Connor and I quit).  Katrina was wearing her sweater soon after unwrapping it, and Alex put on the headphones to play on her computer soon after.

I screwed up with Janelle's present, getting a nearly identical teapot for her that Alex had purchased (and possibly even shown to me) earlier.  Janelle is going to shop a bit for a set of pajamas that will be my belated gift.

I spent much of the first part of the day helping my sons put together and play with their toys and games.  I even got in a little bit of video game time with the game Alex got for me: Transistor.  After dinner at my parents' house, we went to the Nite-lights event at the Jackson Fairgrounds and later watched How To Train Your Dragon 2 with my parents and brother.

It was another good, if busy day.

I love midnight mass on Christmas.  It is a beautiful service for both the eyes and the ears.  For me it was a fantastic cap to a good, if strange, Christmas Eve.

The highlights: 

Because of my birthday the day before and a late night session of Starcraft II to end it, I didn't get to bed until late (or very early, depending on one's perspective).  This made it extremely painful to be woken by my wife due to the pilot light on our water heater having gone out.  I swear that I was staring at the instructions for at least five minutes without being able to focus on, let alone read, the first word.

My brother had to work, but only did so for a half-day and so missed our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, but was at my parents in time for gifts.  

My daughter's boyfriend joined us for most of the day.  We decided early on to blame anything that went wrong on him.  He was a good sport about it.

My brother-in-law Bj didn't come the entire day on religious principle.

I saw a friend of mine who I haven't seen in years (when we only had another brief 5-minute conversation).  While the hint seemed to be that we would be seeing more of each other, I can't help but wonder if it will be another couple or few years before we cross paths again.

It snowed at my parent's house and my house, giving us a white Christmas (those of you who know my love of snow know what that means for me).

I had a good day with my family, which is what I feel is truly important.

It is really late, so I'm keeping this short.

I woke up at 5:30 so I could shower, dress, and be ready by 6:15 to start the movies.  Friends arrived as early as 6:45 and came throughout the day.  The X-Men marathon was a good choice as all but one of the movies are entertaining, and that one (X-Men: The Last Stand) made for great heckling material.  The taco bar worked out quite well.  Once the movies were over, we talked, played some Carcassonne, and I eventually ended the night by playing about seven games of Starcraft II (and winning all but one).  

It has been a great day.

We've watched a few movies lately that I believe are worthy of comment:

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies
Either they needed more material to fill in what happens between the Hobbit and the Fellowship of the Ring, or they needed to keep this at two movies.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this latest journey into Middle Earth, I just can't recommend it as highly as any of the other five movies that have taken us there.  Alfred (the town politician) especially needed much less screen time than was given to him.  Also, Legolas has now been able to entirely defy gravity.  While I spent the extra money on the tickets, watching this movie in 3D was actually a detractor.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
I thought that I would hate it, but I didn't.  The action was often too hard to follow and the story was nearly the same as what we have seen before, but at least one scene caused me to laugh out loud.  The boys liked it, which is what was truly important.

Guardians of the Galaxy
I really wasn't certain that I was going to like this one, but it not only became my favorite Marvel movie thus far, it has catapulted into one of my favorite movies ever.  Now, I know that this is high praise for a movie with a talking raccoon, but there are so many moments in this movie that I look forward to seeing every time I watch it.  And that's another thing: the movie came out on DVD last week and I have watched it three times.  I haven't done that for a movie in quite some time.

This is also the movie that convinced me that I might like 3D.  Seeing it in 2D seems less than when we happened to see it in 3D at the theater (it was the only showing for when we were available to watch it with Alex, which also makes the movie better).

Mary redeems humanity with her willingness to do God's will no matter how difficult it would prove to be.  The opposite of Eve, who disobeys God's will and brings humanity into a state of sin, Mary brings us our redeemer by allowing God to use her as the conduit to bring His Son into the world.  It all starts with her acceptance of Gabriel's annunciation which is celebrated in March even though the Gospel reading for it was today.

The sermon today dealt with messengers.  In short, God works through messengers throughout His dealings with us.  Each of the readings today had a messenger: Nathan to Daniel, Paul to the early Christians, and Gabriel to Mary.  What we often forget is that Jesus has tasked us to be His messengers now.  We are the ones to bring the Good News to others, to show others the power of love, and to bless people in Jesus's name.  It is an awe-inspiring notion.

The church undergoes a transformation after the last of the masses today.  Volunteers gather and add Christmas trees, wreaths, lights and garland, making the church look absolutely amazing.  These decorations fill the church with warmth and a sense of festivity.  I look forward to it every year and am also surprised by how much it affects me every year.  

At my wife's request, I am reposting the information about my birthday plans (for next Tuesday).  I'm happy to do so since I am rather tired at the moment and don't quite feel the creative energy required to write anything original.  I had a good day today, though.  Despite plans having to change, I still got to hang out with some friends and play a few games.

As for my birthday (Tuesday, December 23rd), my current plan is to follow the tentative schedule listed below, which is based on approximate lengths of the movies:

6:15 A.M. - X-Men
8:00 A.M. - X2: X-Men United
10:15 A.M - X-Men: The Last Stand (Yes, I'm going to watch it despite how much I hate it.)
Noon - Lunch - Taco bar
1:00 P.M. - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
2:45 P.M. - X-Men: First Class
5 P.M. - Dinner (we may order and pick up pizza)
5:30 P.M. - The Wolverine
7:30 P.M. - X-Men: Days of Future Past
9:40 P.M. - Finish

I'm so happy to have all of my children back in my house.  I know that as the years progress, this will happen less and less frequently, and while that saddens me, I won't let thought rob me of the joy which I am currently experiencing.

My break is already packing up pretty quickly between family events, my birthday movie marathon (see earlier post for times), and hanging out with friends.  I mention this as many of my posts will either be very short (like this one) or post-dated due to wall-to-wall activities or preparation for said activities.  In a sense, the less that I end up posting, the more fun I will probably be having.

This break has already been a great deal of fun with my house full of laughter (and some occasional yelling).  May it only get better.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been practicing with my guitar for about half an hour (sometimes more) almost every day.  While I am often playing my sons' requests of "Jingle Bells," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and my personal creation "The Kidnapping of Santa Claus," I have also been practicing a wide variety of songs from a packet given to me years ago by one of my friends (who also taught me what I know about playing the guitar).  In these past couple of weeks, I have actually improved in my playing and have been able to play a couple of cords that I had originally thought were beyond me.

My mother has requested that I play during our Christmas Eve family get-together, but I'm actually going a step further.  I'm playing at my school tomorrow.  While I have always held the tradition of singing Christmas songs during passing time, I have only attempted to do so while playing my guitar on one other occasion, and I mostly limited my playing to the beginning and end of school.  For some reason, I feel much more confident about my playing this year, and even though bringing the guitar is going to cause some hassles, I've been looking forward to doing this ever since last week when I decided that I was going to give it a shot.

While a number of the songs that I will sing at school tomorrow will mention Christmas, I will not be playing any that are directly religious in nature.  While that means that some of my better songs will not be played for my students (I especially like playing "The Little Drummer Boy"), I also don't want to alienate any of my students who do not share my beliefs.  This should be a time about growing closer together, not setting up barriers between one another.