The Eighth Day Of Advent

So the eighth day of advent header above wouldn't appear to have anything to do with the advent season.  And today, it doesn't. But by the end of the day, who knows, maybe we'll have a new Christmas tradition.

So, recently there was a Facebook activity that prompted friends to share things about themselves others might not know.  I enjoyed reading the posts, but never participated.  If I had, one of the things I'd have noted about myself is I'm a recovering ET addict.  And some days the recovery doesn't go very well.

It started back in June of 1982, the summer after I graduated high school.  The movie ET was released, and for a half dozen weekends in a row - or so - I went to the theater to see it.  It started to turn into a costly obsession, especially when I discovered the memorabilia I could purchase and hang on to as way to forever commemorate my first love affair with an alien.  

It's been a few years since I've seen the movie.  Somewhere along the line I made the commitment that the next time I watched it it would be with our boys.  Up to this point, neither of them have had any interest.  Too scary, they've said.  But recently, Elliott decided he'd like to watch it.  I haven't been so excited since he asked me to DVR a Notre Dame football game.

For a little history, Katie and I used to joke that we named Elliott after ET when we named him Elliott Thomas.  I suppose we really were joking about that.  Or maybe it just sounds more sane to explain that my great-grandfather's last name was Elliott, and Katie's grandfather's first name was Thomas.  You get far fewer funny looks when you tell people you named your son after his grandfathers than you do when you explain he was named after a movie star who hasn't visited this planet in over 30 years.

And oh, Stephen Spielberg, the director of the movie, was born on December 18th.  The same birthdate Elliott has.    

So tonight after dinner we'll settle in and watch ET together.  To get us pumped up about the experience, I crawled up into our attic today and dug out the box that has all my ET trinkets in it. When I pulled them out and the boys saw them, they began re-thinking their decision to watch the movie.  He doesn't look quite this scary in the movie, I promised them.

Katie was busy doing something else when I lined up part of my collection and took the photo below.  When she came into the living room and saw the arrangement, she said "that is really creepy."  I'm not sure if she was referring to the collection itself, or the fact that she is married to someone who would treasure such a collection.  

Who cares.  Tonight, it's ET.  And who knows, when it's over, maybe the boys will ask for some ET memorabilia for Christmas.