Tina Received a Gift From Luke

Thank you Luke!

Luke gave me a Christmas present on Christmas Day.  Wrapped in a box and everything.  It's kinda nice to live within driving distance of a sibling.

Merry Christmas!

Love, Tina

PS   Don't forget to scroll down and see all the pictures of the siblings.  They are finally all up!

Kaleb - Karl Christmas Gift Exchange

I meant to put this up a while ago, but I'm only getting around to it today because I'm lazy. 

I missed the memo that I was supposed to take pictures to document the sending of my card. So I just sent it off to Karl without taking any pictures like a fool. Once he had received the card, he kindly texted me to let me know. I decided to screenshot the conversation since I didn't document the gift exchange otherwise. Note the 14 degrees temperature in Provo. 

I hope everyone had a good Christmas!


Love,
Kaleb

Karl

The oldest Erickson sibling is also the best armed sibling.  He's visited more foreign countries and lived in more states.  To my young boys, he also has the most awesome job (second only to "ninja") and is the best at playing Nerf battles.

[Insert picture of Karl here.]

If you owned a radio station, would you play Christmas music all day, everyday in December?

No, I would not.  I would play Christmas music all day starting on December 20th and play it through the end of day on December 26th.  That's it.  Now, my wife, she would start playing it in November.

Andrea:  Play it through the New Year, through January.
Karl:  Yeah, I wouldn't do that. 

What is your least favorite household chore?

Karl:       All of the chores.
Andrea:  He doesn't do any of them.
Tina:       Are you saying he wouldn't know which chore he dislikes the most because you do everything and Karl does nothing.
Andrea:    That's right.
Karl:        (Silence.)
Tina:        And, Karl, your position is that you're not disagreeing you just don't like chores.
Karl:        That's right.

Are you binge watching anything right now?

K:    I'm watching so many shows right now, but they're all on Christmas break.
T:     So, you're not binge watching anything, you're really watching shows?
K:     Yeah, I'm really watching shows.
T:     Shows that play on network television.
K:    That's right.
T:    Well, what are they?
K:     CSI Cyber, Quantico, NCIS, NCIS - Los Angeles, NCIS - New Orleans, Chicago Med, Chicago PD, Chicago Fire...

What sport would you play, if you had lots of spare time?

Soccer.  You should have known that.  Soccer.

Where do you go to find good comedy?
Jeff Dunham and Gabrielle Igleseis.  He's known as the Fluffy Guy.  Look him up on YouTube. Look for "the Ventriloquist."  He's hilarious.
[I searched for "Gabrielle Igleseis Ventriloquist" and nothing matching pulled up.  I bet you can do better.]

Tina

While Tina managed to single-handedly interview all of the brothers, she didn't think to interview herself for the blog. Too busy looking for Christmas sex changes to write about, I assume. So Luke and I conducted a tandem interview to record Tina's answers on the same questions she asked everyone else. Some of her answers are a little reluctant, but I will interpret them to the best of my ability. 

* This is where Mike is going to place a photoshopped picture of that chick from Bad Boys II with Tina's face. 

If you owned a radio station, would you play Christmas music all day, everyday in December?

Tina: Christmas music.....ha ha ha...I would....

Interpretation: Based on other Erickson sibling responses to this question, we assume that Tina also hates Christmas music and her radio station would never play any Christmas music. 

Are you binge watching anything right now?

Tina: Ha ha... yes...

Kaleb: Don't worry, I already know that she is currently binge watching "The Arrow." We discuss this. And next on her list is to watch "Vampire Diaries" again. 

Luke: Do you watch "The Originals"?

Tina: No because that is straight pornography and I can't watch that, I'm a prude. 

What is your least favorite household chore?

Tina: I hate folding white socks. 

Kaleb: Why is that?

Tina: Because everyone has [expletive deleted] white socks! The boys have the socks with the red letters and Lily has blue letter sock, it's just too many socks. 

This segued into a discussion about the socks worn at the temple. Luke admits that he doesn't think he's ever washed those socks and he's been wearing them for years. Tina agrees that she probably hasn't ever washed her temple socks either. Kaleb still needs to get his own set of temple clothes. 

What Sport would you play, if you had lots of spare time?

Tina: I would play Wally Ball.

Kaleb: So you can bust some knee caps?

Tina: Yes. 

Where do you go to find good comedy?

I love Amy Poehler. She is a female comic, I like to respect that women are funny. She did great in Parks and Recreation, which I enjoyed. It's like Arrested Development, which I also enjoyed. At least for the first 2 seasons. 

Why Do the Erickson Children Not Like Christmas Music?

Over the past week, Tina has interviewed 3 of the 5 Erickson children and discovered that universally, all of the siblings have a dislike of Christmas music.  This discovery is particularly shocking because of the time, effort, and money that our parents put in to help us appreciate music in general.

What caused three of the five siblings to form a dislike of Christmas music?  Was it something environmental or hereditary?

Did Great Grandpa Karl Victor pass along a defective gene to us because he was a Protestant living amongst Catholics in Europe and did not like Catholics Christmas music?  Or did attending Vista Elementary with its strict adherence to discipline and focus on education ruin the Christmas of our childhoods?

Maybe it is a combination of both.

Since I can only speak for myself, here are my three reasons why I would prefer not to listen to Christmas music:

1.  Not Fast Enough
I like my music with a little bit of tempo.  It would be great if the reason I liked a faster tempo is because I worked out to music, but that is not the case.  I just don’t work out.

I have always liked music with a faster tempo.  My favorite song is New Radical’s You only get what you give followed by DMB Ant’s Marching.  Both have a really nice tempo.

With Christmas music, the tempo drags.  For every Sleigh Ride, there is a Silent Night or We Three Kings.  It puts me to sleep.

The one Christmas song that I do tolerate is Christmas Wrapping because of its fast beat and fake synthesized horn line.

2.  Too Repetitive
I am disappointed that there does not seem to be a lot of creativity in Christmas music.  The last great hit was Mariah Carrey’s All I want for Christmas is You.  Since that time, the well has gone dry.

I have heard the same Christmas songs every year for 36 years now!  I am ready for something new.

This is the same reason why I struggle with hymns.  They need to update our hymn book to include something like God’s not Dead He’s living within me, Roaring Like a Lion.  True, it is false doctrine but it is a great song.

3.  Makes Me Think of Spending Money
Not to put a damper on Christmas, but I associate the season with spending too much money. Christmas music is guilty by association.  Perhaps this is a Pavlovian response to hearing Christmas music?

Well, those are my reasons.  Why do the rest of you dislike Christmas music?

Eli, Better than Sean Bean

Eli is currently potty training his third child - a boy.  He could probably tell you that it is slightly harder to potty train a boy than a girl, but it will be so worth it to have only one set of diapers to buy each month.

If you owned a radio station, would you play Christmas music all day, everyday in December?

No.  I would never play Christmas music.  Ever.  I am not interested in Christmas music.  I don't like Christmas music - could you really stress that I would not play - at this point my wife would be upset with me and say that I do like Christmas music.  And for sure, she likes Christmas music, which is great.  But, no.  No Christmas music.

What is your least favorite household chore?

Potty training  children.  But on a more regular basis, I would say, raking leaves.  I need to go out and rake in the front but I just don't want to.  I'm letting the leaves win.
Also, laundry.

Are you binge watching anything right now?

No.  Last night I watched the rest of the Toy Story Christmas Special with Ethan.  But for me screen time is a little hard to come by.  We are slowly making our way through iZombie but we've been stuck on episode 9 for about a month.  I really liked the description on Netflix, there just isn't any time.  

What sport would you play, if you had lots of spare time?

I would fence.  I still harbor desires to learn how to fence.  I took a class a few years back and, well, I would love to fence.

Where do you go to find good comedy?

Sometimes we watch the comedy specials on Netflix, you know, the featured comics.  Those aren't always safe.  I like Brian Regan, he's pretty clean, and Jim Gaffigan, the show that's called "Mr. Universe".
Mostly, if I need to laugh, I just watch Hailey.  She makes me laugh.

Luke

Luke is the only Erickson sibling who has manged to kick the soda habit.  He is a new home-owner - just like Karl.   He now owns a house that was build brand new - first owner and occupier.  He's a good man in a storm and knows how to laugh at everything that comes his way.  (Except chiggers.)

If you owned a radio station, would you play Christmas music all day, everyday in December?

No.  Absolutely not.  Heck, no.  I abhor the sound of Christmas music.  I prefer classic rock mixed with a little hip hop.  I listen to 92.3 the Beat and KROQ.  No Christmas music.

What is your least favorite household chore?
I would say folding laundry.  Or washing ba-bas.  And, maybe washing dishes.

Are you binge watching anything right now?

Yes, dumb Jessica Jones on Netflix and I am living in regret.  It's terrible but I have to finish it.  I'm just passively watching it, you know, while I fold laundry or wash ba-bas.  It's really bad.  I'm also watching Max in a High Castle.  It's better.  

What sport would you play, if you had lots of spare time?

If I could program the robots playing with me and against me to be good enough to challenge me, but not good enough to crush me, I would play tennis and basketball.  

Where do you go to find good comedy?

Dave Chappelle is always good.  I have a new love, Hanibal Burress, but I always like listening to old tracks from Mitch Hedburg.  

Gee, it's sunny out here at night.

Kaleb Erickson, Smash Brothers Champion

Kaleb granted me an interview one Friday afternoon just before finals.  He's a busy man, but never too busy for his siblings.  Here's a little bit about Kaleb:

If you owned a radio station, would you play Christmas music all day, every day in December?
I really like Christmas music but after a day, I get bored.  Maybe we could have 2 hours of Christmas music each day and then switch back to other music.  That would be better.

What is your least favorite household chore?
I do not like laundry in general.  I do not like doing the laundry, and I don't like folding the laundry.  I have mostly stopped folding laundry; I just keep the clean clothes in my laundry bag until I'm ready to wear them. But I hang up my button-up shirts, of course.

Are you binge watching anything right now?
I just finished "Workaholics," one of those Amazon Prime shows.  I am considering starting up "Friday Night Lights," based on a recommendation from Luke.

If you could play any sport, just for fun, what would it be?
I like warball / dodgeball but with Dad rules.  None of that "let's all stand in a circle and throw balls at some people in the middle" nonsense from elementary school.

Where do you find good comedy?
"Workaholics" was pretty good for laughs.  I also have a couple of Dave Shappell routines on my ipod that are always good, and I've listened to them several times already.

Clarksville, Tennessee

I bet you didn't know that Karl lives very close to the Cumberland River.

I bet you didn't know that Tennessee was the last state to succeed from the Union during the Civil War.

I bet you didn't know that I read a lethargic, dull, well-researched fiction book on the Battle of Shiloh, which happened only 145 miles south of Clarksville, Tennessee.

I bet you didn't know that Karl doesn't have Internet at his new house, but he does own a forest.  He also owns a sitting lawn mower.  I would be very interested in a picture of Karl, sitting on his mower, wearing sandals with socks.
Please?

You Should All Thank Karl...

for discouraging my fruitcake exchange plan.  This will be so much better!

Here's the exchange list (this year I went with alphabetical):

Tina gives to Eli
Eli gives to Kaleb
Kaleb gives to Karl
Karl gives to Luke
Luke gives to Tina

The plan is to give a gift that will actually be used, to be able to send a "thank you" without having to find a card or a stamp or an envelope, and to ensure that no one can blame me for their shelves of dust-collecting chatzskies.  (I found this amazing half-shotgun, half-toilet plunger thingee I thought would be great for Eli...)

$20 limit!  Send a pretty Christmas card!  Trace your hand print on it!  Send a personalized message!  Merry Christmas!