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Previous Blogs

20 Best Photos
of 2005
December 31, 2005

The Travesty of
the Xmas Tree
Industry
December 24, 2005

Star Wars Exhibit
December 13, 2005

Hip-Hop
December 1, 2005

Turkey dinner!
November 21, 2005

The superiority of
Geeks/Nerds/Dorks
November 10, 2005

Halloween Party
October 30, 2005

Spirituality
October 23, 2005

Baptisms
FEMA video
October 17, 2005

Lewis Black
Mike's Birthday
October 13, 2005

Wedding Weekend
October 1–2, 2005

At the beginning of December, I unleashed my Xmas decorations upon the apartment. I was very proud of this particular decorative statement, since last year these lights were strewn all over the apartment in an arbitrary fashion, causing Randy to writhe in pain every time I inserted a new tack into the wall. This year I thought it would be really clever to use the lights to shape a Xmas tree around the Dungeons and Dragons map hanging on our wall (yes we're nerds, we've been over this).

Only half of the lights lit up at a time, but still, I was very happy with how the tree came out, and I'm always a fan of additional ambient lighting. However, three days after this tree was tacked into the wall (using about 40 tacks... deep breaths, Randy :D), Nikita and Oocla—continuing with their "we must harm everything you love" trend—decided to EAT most of the bottom of the tree. So it was taken down and the lights were thrown away before anyone (other than Mike) even saw oh tanenbaum.

On December 18, 2005, Randy and I attended the first of our family-oriented Xmas gatherings, at his parents' house in Rottenchester—I mean—Rochester, NH. As usual, his mom made entirely too much food, everyone enjoyed their gifts, and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with said gifts. Randy's aunt Bonnie-Jean thought it would be fun to put together the tent she gave to Randy's neice, so the three of us had a grand ole time erecting said tent. That sounded really dirty. :D

Here's Bonnie-Jean and Kiara in the tent.

For Xmas Eve, Randy and I traversed to Allenstown, NH (outside of Manchester) to visit with my father's side of the family. There were many tasty treats at this event too (including fabulous cupcakes with marshmallow snowmen on top that my cousin Michelle made!), as well as a Secret Santa gift exchange. I only wish this had been as exciting as Jesse's Yanqui Swap, but it was fun nonetheless. I had my mom, and thought I would be all clever by cutting out letters from magazines to spell out "To: Fran, From: Secret Santa, Ho ho ho!" And because she's my mom, she totally guessed it was from me before even opening the gift. How I underestimated her! :D Randy had my brother and had given him a bottle of Glen Levitt, which apparently was the hit of the party! And my cousin Brenda gave me some awesome hot chocolate and a mug and Barnes and Noble gift certificate (which I have already spent, thank you very much).

The rest of that evening was spent like this, staring at my brother's adorable new Siberian Husky puppy, Quannum, who was chewing on his VERY FIRST bone. Oh the cute! :)

Xmas Day was so nice and relaxing this year! As I mentioned in my previous post, normally we go to my uncle's in the afternoon, and spend the morning rushing through present-opening and stuffing breakfast down our throats. But this year, we were able to sleep in a bit (well, until Quannum decided he needed to pee), open our presents at a more leisurely pace, and actually taste the delicious breakfast that my mom cooked for us. Then Greg and I took the baby (being Quannum) for a hike up Mt. Agemenicus (which I still don't know how to spell). I nearly shit myself when I dropped my camera in two inches of snow, but luckily it has made a full recovery (thank fucking christ)!

Here's Mr. Man (Quannum), our fearless leader.

The following day, Mike, Jenna and Jason came over to exchange Xmas gifts. Doug stopped in for a full fifteen minutes as well (which was a gift in itself, believe me :D ). Highlights include the rug shaped like a steak that we gave to Mike, the Batman blanket that Mike gave to Jenna and Jason (for their child MUST love The Dark Knight!), and the five-person tent that Jenna and Jason gave to Randy.

New Year's Eve was a festival of food. Randy decided to splurge and buy an ENTIRE PAN of cornbread from Muddy River. That's 32 pieces!

I took this picture of the cornbread at the end of the night. We had so much leftover! (Don't worry, it was consumed promptly, that shit is like crack.) :)

Randy also purchased FIVE POUNDS of pulled pork from Muddy River, which was barely touched, as you can see. (Again, none was wasted, don't you fret!)

Apparently Doug and Mike did not get the memo that WE ARE NERDS and thought that somehow our little gathering would involve more than the usual six people. :D So, Doug brought stuffed shells...

...Mike brought beef ribs,...

...Mike also brought pork ribs,...

...Doug brought Killer Chicken (so named because Randy's mother's late dog, Killer, loved this dish)...

...and Mike made his famous Potato Thingies (so named because we can't think of anything else to call them. Well, other than "delicious", har har har!), which were the only things at the party that were entirely consumed within minutes!

Needless to say, after all of that food, we couldn't do much but sit on our asses (okay, we were planning on doing that anyway, but shush!), so we watched "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" (in honor of Mike's born-again virginity :D) and both volumes of "Kill Bill". Good times!

The last of my holiday season was celebrated this past Saturday, when Barbara and I visited Brandie to observe Three King's Day (even though it was the previous Friday). We relaxed and chitchatted and exchanged more presents and had a wonderful dinner together. :)

Go on Greg, go on brush your shoulders off.

How did this get here? This is Greg, circa August 1990, at Disneyworld.

Does Rocawear make fanny packs?

We also make soap out of fat.

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