83 Degreez: Holiday Trips

This week, we’ve got another long road trip out to Seattle - our third time on the West Coast. For me, I’m passing my time on the flight with DVD movies and my IPOD all the time. I’ve got to have my IPOD ready so I have all my music. Whenever I want to take a nap, I’ve got to have my BOSE headphones that cancel out all the noise and the stuff that’s going on. I’ll put the slow jams on if I want to go to sleep. If I just feel like just listening to some music, I’ll probably listen to some rap or R&B, that’ll keep me up-tempo, and I always bring at least two or three movies with me that I haven’t seen so I can try and check them out to keep my attention. That definitely helps the flight go a little bit faster.

You can imagine that it gets a little bit cramped for big football players on the long plane ride, but we have it a little different. That’s the best thing about having our chartered flights: You can get up and stand up as much as you want and pretty much throw all those airline rules out of the window. It’s a totally different feel on a chartered flight with guys on the team. The flight attendants don’t bother you as much and they just kind of join you and have fun. The team has meaningful conversations talking about the past game, and we all have fun. Well, that’s if we win. If we lose, it’s a tough flight. But, since we’re all crammed in the plane for six hours and 15 minutes, it’s just another time to have an opportunity to bond with everyone.

When we get back, I’m excited for Christmas. My fiancée and I are going up to New York. I’m going to spend Christmas with her family this year and this’ll be my first time actually going to a female’s house for Christmas or a holiday or something like that. I’ve never actually done that before, so it’ll be the first time. It’ll be a new experience for me, and I’m looking forward to doing it. I’m not nervous, though. I think I’m a people person; I never get nervous around family, around mothers, around grandparents, any of that stuff. I’ve never been one to be afraid to meet somebody’s parents. This whole relationship with the engagement with my fiancée has all been really interesting this year. It’s been fun. I feel like it’s been a whole new level of getting to know someone.”

I always thought that it would be really, really challenging, but so far I’m yet to experience the challenge. Like any relationship, you’re going to have your disagreements, but she’s definitely the right woman. We’re on the same page with everything, are able to talk things out regardless of the situation or how bad it may get, we can still find a way to talk things out amongst each other. I think the most important thing is finding a way to give, and if you find a way to give then I think you’re ready for a lot more than most people are. Most people don’t want to bend in their ways. They’re stubborn. The funny thing is, she and I are both Aries, so we’re generally stubborn people. We love each other enough to try to work through things and have enough love for each other. It’s been since July – it seems like it’s been long, but it really hasn’t been that long at all. The experience of living with somebody has been wonderful.

Now, my son is 2 years old, and I’m not sure if he knows about the whole Santa Claus thing quite yet. He’s a fairly smart, bright kid but I’m sure he is kind of excited about Christmas by now, going on his second Christmas. He likes to open presents, that’s for sure. I’ve taken him shopping to Toys ‘R’ Us a couple times, where they don’t even have wrapping paper on the toys and he can’t wait to tear them open and get them out of the box. He’s a funny kid to watch, so it’ll be exciting to see him open some gifts this year.

I really love Christmas and everything that surrounds it. I had the opportunity to get out in the community this week for some Christmas parties, which are always fun. I went to the Empowerment Temple Holiday party, Steve McNair’s event and I did the PAL Kids Party at the ESPN Zone, so Tuesday was a long day.

You want to be able to give back to your own kids, your family and definitely your parents to thank them for their appreciation for all the stuff they’ve done for you for the many, many years of their life. You always want to show them love and respect. If you’ve got kids, you want to make sure that this Christmas is a very wonderful Christmas.

I definitely want to do the same for my child, and if you’ve got a significant other or partner, you definitely want to do something to put a huge smile on their face. Christmas is the time of year for giving. This is definitely my favorite holiday without a doubt. I’ve always loved Christmas, I’ve always been excited about Christmas, the day of Christmas, the opening of gifts, the not going to sleep the night before and trying to open the presents at 12:01 instead of waiting until the morning. I’ve always been excited. I’ve been a huge Christmas fan all my life, to me, Christmas is the time of the year that you really get to show some real love for people.

Thanks for taking some time out of your day to read the blog this week. I wish everyone out there a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Be back later.

- D. Wilcox #83