Sunday evening, we had some friends over to celebrate TBWITWW's birthday. We had the usual insane quantities of food. I baked a cake. It was chocolate and had cherries. Apparently it was good. (I don't like chocolate, so I don't believe that it was all that great.) She got some fun gifts. (A jar of pickles!) and we played Wii and InPursuit (a cuthroat, team-based version for Trivial Pursuit.) And a grand time was had by all. We need to have people over more often.

As I've mentioned here before, we just got a Wii. We're loving the thing so far. So far, at least, it seems like it was worth the money. Yes, it's just a video game, but it's gotten us up off the couch and playing and laughing, which is a good thing.

We decided when we were looking at our Christmas budget that we could either get a few smaller things for each other, or we could get one bigger gift for both of us. Considering we're booth starting to feel like there's a major need to get rid of some of the crap around the house, getting more stuff was just not something that interested us all that much. We'd talked about getting a Wii, and the few times we'd played at friends' houses we had enjoyed it quite a bit. So, the wii seemed like a good gift to give ourselves. We set aside the money in the checking account (I added a transaction in the register in MS Money for $300 and marked it as Wii Placeholder.) That way when we found one, we'd know the money was available and we could buy it without worrying about if we had the $300 available in the account right then. (This is the same way I maintain my "buffer".)

Eventually I signed up at WiiAlerts.com and about two weeks later I got a call on my cell phone telling me there were Wiis available. I got on the website and it linked to Amazon, and 5 minutes later, our Wii was on its way. I then picked up a copy of WiiPlay (mostly for the extra controller) and an extra nunchuck. Setup was easy and connecting to the wireless network was painless, which is nice as I've got mine pretty locked down so everything needs to be done manually.

So far, my favorite is Boxing and I've got the sore shoulders and arms to prove that I get into it. Baseball and golf are fun to play together too. We're looking forward to trying out some other games that we're going to borrow from friends (TBWITWW is particularly interesed in the Trauma Center game and the cooking one... I guess she likes cutting things up and isn't picky about if it's veggies or people.) I would love a Civ type game, but haven't seen one.

Do you have a Wii (or have you played one)? If so, what are your favorite games?

Well... not true. I've already gotten some good stuff. The MIL got me two photography lighting books and a subscription to Popular Science. Which is sweet. Also, TBWITWW and I have decided to take the day off. We won't be traveling or cleaning or whatnot today. We're just going to stay in, watch movies, and eat. (Our usual Thanksgiving tradition.)

However, we're not exchanging gifts. We've decided that instead of each of us running around trying to find gifts for each other we're going to get a Wii. We've played one a few times, and enjoyed it greatly. The game play is more intuitive to me (I'm a button masher) and the simplicity of it makes it fun. Also, it seems to be more likely to get us off our butts and moving a bit more, which can't hurt. We decided that rather than drive ourselves crazy looking for one though, we're going to just put the money aside in the account and when we find one, buy it then. It may be a wile before we get it, but that's okay.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and gets the important things. Love, Happiness and Peace.