Here are all of my holiday pics from the end of December 2006!
Wednesday, December 20th
On Wednesday night a whole bunch of us went over to Ellen Stagg's apartment for her annual Secret Santa party! Here's Katie and Ellen getting ready to kick off the gift giving!
...a bunch of Adams magic tricks! Oh man, I remember when I was little there was a store in the mall that had an entire rack of Adams products, and every time I went to the mall with my parents I'd spin that rack and dream about how AWESOME my life would be if I could buy them. (If my memory of the packaging serves correctly, Meredith is showing off a bottle of disappearing ink, a package of those pellets that you light on fire and they make ash-snakes, and a fake packet of Juicy Fruit that snaps your finger when you try to take a piece!)
Carol scored the other awesome "variety bag" present. A bottle of HBO Rome-themed wine, gingerbread men cookies, a little chocolate doo-hickey, and most-randomly, a copy of the Sex Advice From... book with a photo of Leigh on the front that I shot the cover for!
On Friday night I went over to Sarah's for dinner and I brought along the "Pasture Pals" Christmas present that Meredith had picked out for Ellen. Look at that smile! Can you tell how much she liked it?
Then we ate the awesome dinner that Sarah cooked! Check out Monkey standing up like a weird muppet-person trying to get herself some delicious gnocchi!
On Saturday afternoon, Meredith and I took the train out to my parents house in NJ so that we could spend Christmas with my fam! I brought along the Wii so that the whole family could play (which we ended up doing for hours on end). Here's my mom and brother getting ready to square off in tennis. But before they played, we decided that we all needed to...
And then it was on like Donkey Kong! My mom's real-world tennis skills gave her an early advantage - but after two or three games, Brett's video-tennis skills kicked in and he dominated!
On Christmas Eve my family drove down to South Jersey to attend the Birds' annual holiday party. Ann and Walt Bird are my Great-Uncle and Great-Aunt! Here's Uncle Walt who I've always thought looks a lot like the father from the movie A Christmas Story.
Later that night, my brother, my dad and Meredith all disappeared from the party. I found them out in the backyard, shaking their tail feathers in the birdbath...
Later that night, we drove back to my parent's house and we found that our stockings had been stuffed! Meredith even has a stocking with her name on it! (Translation: My mom loves Meredith).
Then it was time to head to the living room and open some presents! (It's a long-standing tradition in my house that we open presents that night before Christmas - it was a tradition born when my parents realized that this was a better alternative than my brother and I waking them up at 5am in order to unwrap our loot!).
The next day a bunch of relatives came to our house for Christmas dinner. Clockwise from bottom left: Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Wayne, mom, Aunt Elaine, Amy and Brett. Meredith and I = TOTALLY CROPPED OUT! Thanks, dad! Haha.
The day after Christmas, we drove way down to south Jersey (by Philly) to have dinner with my dad's brother and his family. Here's my dad with his brother Bruce and Bruce's girlfriend Elyse.
Another holiday dinner! Clockwise from left: My cousin Chris, mom, Amy, Brett, Amanda, my cousin Steve and Mer. (If I remember correctly, this is right before we all got into a big discussion about global warming - because my cousin Chris, who is a consultant for oil companies, doesn't believe it's real. Or that if it is, it's just part of a natural cycle and has nothing to do with humans burning pretty much the ENTIRE oil supply that took x years to develop in just the last 100-odd years. Hmmm....)
My Uncle Bruce is a gadget guy - he always has the latest toys! He'd recently gotten a new plasma flatscreen so my dad was only too happy to take Bruce's older HDTV off his hands...and Brett and I were the lucky ones who got to carry the 300lb monster down the stairs...
On Tuesday Meredith and I came home to NYC and found that one of my presents to her had arrived while we were gone. A sweet-ass Rat Crossing mug that I'd noticed on her Amazon wish list. Heheh.
When someone you love is going through a tough time, you gotta be there with hugs, ridiculously bad-for-you food and lotsa booze. Some random Cheesecake Factory out in New Jersey seemed like a good place for the healing to begin.
After getting our food and drink on, we headed to the nearest townie bar and proceeded to get shit-canned! Townie bars in NJ pretty much rule. Drinks are like $3....
...and they always sell cigarette brands you've never heard of. "Full Flavored" Gold Coast! Mmmm, mmmm!
OK, tell Sarah that Monkey needs her own calendar or something... she's like a little grizzled old man trapped in the body of a cute little dog. Ridiculously adorable combination. Also, the tiny darth thing made me laugh hysterically out loud here at the Starbucks. You're embarassing me!
robapril 15, 2008
The pictures with the family Miis made me laugh, as my fiancee's favorite part of the Wii is making detailed Miis, including making people stand next to the TV for up to 30 minutes so she can get them perfectly.
I'd also love to know what Ellen's Secret Santa rules were. I'm always trying to change it up every year.
rrapril 25, 2008
Great post. Although the Adams pack = Rattlesnake Eggs. Not the light-on-fire-and-fuck-up-the-sidewalk snakes.
