I’m not one to promote finding happiness during the holidays based upon the gifts you receive.  I mean, as always, I’d much rather get nothing and have the chance to go home and see  my family than anything else.  But sometimes you just get something that’s hard to beat and you’ve been wanting to have for years.  And this year’s gift is, in fact, something that I have wanted to have for as long as I can remember.  I’ll use pictures as a description here, because I think it pretty much says it all.

One of the not so unknown things about me is that I’m obsessed with the Braves and have been since I was a kid.  I mean, I helped start and write for BravesBlast.com.  Normal people just don’t do that kind of thing.  Thinking back to when I started playing little league baseball in Dothan, AL, Dale Murphy and the Braves were always my favorites when it came to baseball.  We traveled to a couple of games a season just in hopes that I could get a glimpse of him playing in Atlanta.  When Murphy left the Braves to finish his career with the Phillies, I even became a Phillies fan while he was there.  (Just as a note, this is something I just can’t fathom doing in hindsight.)

Anyways, Lindsay gave me my Christmas present this weekend since I’m not too sure how much more I’ll be in town before the end of the year.  It’s a signed, matted and framed Murphy jersey and it will, without a doubt, take a prominent place on the walls in my basement (along with my Smoltz’s 3000th strikeout frame) as soon as it’ s done.  It’s sad that the motivation in getting my basement finished is to hang my memorabilia moreso than having a new room to hang out in, but that’s besides the point.

So my first reaction to this present hasn’t changed.  Noone else needs to bother trying to get me anything this year because it just doesn’t stand a chance (but, I will in fact accept all other gifts, let’s be realistic).  I’m hoping to use this as the start of the vision I’ve had for my office in my house one day to have one of each color of the Braves’ jersey matted and hung on the walls.  For now, however, I’m more than happy to look at just this one.  It’ll always be my favorite just knowing that Dale has touched it.

Like I mentioned, I don’t know how much more I’ll be home in 2008, but I’ll do my best to get a few new posts up from here and there when I get the time.  I know it’s a busy time of year for everyone.  I hope everyone gets to enjoy the company of friends and family for the holidays and is looking forward to a great 2009.