Alright!
The last of my Christmas presents have arrived in the mail.
That means this weekend I can start wrapping them up, and maybe even put some out under the tree for everyone to see.

I only bought things for my immediate family, and none of my presents are useless toys or junk. Mt Grandparents, Grandma and Grandad Richey (Ritchey?...), are selling their home this year and moving to Saskatchewan, so I can't buy them anything.
I'm not allowed to buy anything for my niece or nephew, since my step-sister Michelle decided to throw away 90 percent of their toys recently, and she still thinks her kids have too many to play with.
I can't really think of anything for my long-distance family, not even my poor old paw, so there goes the gift department up in smoke. I think all my dad wants is to see me in person, so I'll visit him after the snow melts, and maybe try to make it a monthly weekend trip to say hi in Blackfalds.
I'm not buying for any of my friends or co-workers, especially since I have no idea what anyone wants anyway. Plus I'm saving up money for a new pair of glasses and maybe some repairs for my truck. Those friends will just have to live another year without a present from poor old Davey again.

Nope, just a few worth-while gifts that I think the family should have. Everyone is too old really to buy toys or stuffed animals for, and bath soaps and clothing is what everyone else will be getting them.
My gifts are outrageous and original. I can't wait to see their faces on Christmas morning! ^_^
Since Jamie and Tony have access to this blog as well, I can't spill the beans until after they've opened them up. Like the rest of the family, they have to be kept in the dark until that morning, when I pop out a big shit-eating grin and say 'Gotcha!'.

Oh, I wish I could buy something for my niece and nephew... I think I just in fact will, even if it is to spite my sister Michelle. She's such a bitch at times, and I can say this with all the love of a caring brother. She frets over nothing, ballooning trivial problems into major epidemics. A simple colouring page error becomes a 'Daddy didn't teach you proper values and ethics yet' spiel. Or, 'Your father is a moron for letting you drink apple juice so close to bed time'.
I admit I don't really like her fiancee Alex that much, as he has the attitude (or HAD the attitude) of a 16 year old male. However, the man makes a good living and obviously cares for his family. She shouldn't treat him like garbage like that, especially not in front of her kids.
I saw a folding playhouse on T.V. that I thought looked absolutely awesome. My conservative mother said that my niece would have outgrown that by now. No way! I would play in that thing!

Christmas time. I keep seeing all the happy kids on T.V., and I wonder when I'll let myself become a daddy. One day I would love to be a proud father. Not for another couple of years I imagine, but one day.
I'd like to have a little girl first. A little princess who I can fret and frown after. I'd be called a 'grumpy old bear' when she's mad at me, and just a soft 'daddy' when she's happy.
Maybe a little brother after a couple of years. She'd be the oldest, and her job would be to look after her little brother.
Then I'd get myself FIXED. Lol! ^_^

I've helped raise Tony and Steph, and I know I'd make an awesome dad. I've been a Beaver/Cub Scout leader for five years, and have often babysat and taken care of children for many people. I have a great love for them, and even though I'm a stern, gruff old meany around older people, I have an undeniable soft side reserved just for children.
The question is: Can I be a great husband as well?
Probably, if I can have a little freedom to do my thing, and our separate lives revolved around each others' frequently. I have the patience to make things work, and a rule-bending mind that can usually find compromise between two opposing ideas. As long as I don't get a psycho woman one day who has values that include being cheap, making others feel miserable, and being petty and short-sighted, I think I'd do fine.
But that wouldn't be until I was like 30 or something. It's all pre-meditated. I evolve at a fixed rate, and I'm only 26 right now, with a long four years to go before I'm even close to ready to settle down.
I have to obey my fixed internal calendars.

So, what did I ask for Christmas so far? Not very much.
Jigsaw, Dremil Tool (mini drill), Digital Camcorder, Fuzzy Jammies (Stephanie is buying them for me), oddball stuff that I would like (collectables, antiques, etc.), a nipple piercing (left nipple only), and maybe a... ummm... Hmmm...
I didn't really ask for much at all this year.
Whatever! I'm grateful to know that people think I'm special enough to even want to talk to me, let alone send me a gift!
My trouble is... Why should I ask for something, when I can usually just get it myself for myself? It's hard, because just two weeks ago I needed a new bathrobe. A really nice and fluffy one. I was yelled at for not letting the family buy me one for Christmas. Well?... I needed it then, not later! ^_^
I dunno. I can live without so much stuff, and right now I don't have room to ask for things like a cut-off saw, or a pottery wheel. I jsut don't have room for any of that stuff. Not yet.

I want to be a professional crafter. Work with my semi-precious stones, metals, clays, woods, feathers, leathers, fabrics, etc., to create all manner of artistic objects. Masks, robes, jewelry, weapons, armour, bowls, pictures, statues, walking sticks, anything and everything.

I'm strongly considering a future career in a social services department, spirituality, and similar areas. I'd like to run a summer camp, where I help manage tourists and show them how great it can be to live outdoors with friends and family. I want to canoe, explore, camp, climb, do everything that I used to do but no longer can here at home.

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Let me say something. Kim and Laurie have a rule, saying 'no sex in the house'. I don't have sex here at all, and this rule really only applies to the kids who have boy/girlfriends. That means Tony, Steph, and Sam.
Now, tonight Kim found out for sure from a reliable source that Sam has indeed had sex in this house, quite recently, despite the rules.
Oh man, is she pissed!
First of all, we ALL know the kids have and will continue having sex. Of all the kids in our house, those three are all in meaningful relationships with people they care about. They understand sex is not required or even necessary for a relationship to work.
Masturbation is okay in our house. What is sex? Mutual masturbation with an interactive sex-toy, basically.
I personally feel that it's okay that they're practicing this very important act. They all use safe sex practices, they all don't base their relationships on sex, and they don't do it in an obscene or flamboyant way.
Kim and Laurie are both way-overreacting over this. What do they expect?
Those two are both lesbians, who enjoy may I say quite raunchy sex at times. They expect us to be comfortable with their choices, and the fact that they aren't even married yet sleeping together.
Should the kids follow in my footsteps, living in their parents basement until God knows when? Sexless, with no relationships or experiences tucked under their belts?
I say no, and I am very glad that they all rebelled in such a normal way sexually. I suppose being the stick-in-the-mud big brother has shown them that all work and no play makes for a pathetic life.

I am, by the way, NOT a virgin. I have actually had several sexual acts when I was younger that my mother stills knows nothing about. Not yet anyway. I'd have to say that the last time I engaged was around when I was only 13. That again was the LAST time, at age 13. 4 girls, 1 boy. Heh, I was young, and I really didn't know any better, except that I'd get in trouble if I was caught.
I stopped having sex at the age of 13 because of a particular incident. The last one was one of the girls I knew, and she told me that her period was late. I was using the withdraw technique, which I know to this day is not safe at all.
At that point of my life, I knew instantly my life was over. My abusive step-dad and psycho mother would quite literally kill me on the spot, one or the other. I was a living zombie for weeks, terrified beyond belief. Thankfully, weeks later, I was told by the girl that she had her period, and it was just late after all. Ir-regardless, that was it. It was far too much bother and risk to enjoy myself in that way with anyone ever again, so I chose a life of abstinence.
To this day I am teased horrifically that 'I am a virgin', or that 'I'll never have a girlfriend'. I've made choices, and lived with them. Memories are hard to erase, especially when you remember them almost daily. So, I grit and bear it all, and I know one day I'll settle down with other people in the future. There will be a day when I find someone whom I can be completely honest with, and help myself to relearn simple things like pleasure, peace, and companionship.
The Greatest Healers Are Often The Ones Who Need The Greatest Healing Of All. This is a long-time quote that I copied/created long ago. I can't remember which. It applies to nearly everything in my life, be it sex, freedom, love, family, whatever. It is a broad statement that represents me to the extreme.

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Meh, what did I do!? Lol.
I went from Christmas presents, to love, to family issues, to my own issues. God, I meander too much!
Sorry for the ugly details, but hey, it's my life, and I can be brutally honest at times.

Lotsa love folks. Talk to me on MSN if ya need to vent. E-mail me if ya can't vent on MSN. Or use Facebook. You can also leave comments on this blog if you want.
That goes for you too, Shawn.