Hi Hi, I feel like every post I start out by apologizing for not posting. It's November, and typically I'd be posting every day as part of NaBloPoMo, but alas, my life is too crazy to focus enough on myself and my writing. It makes me sad, but I keep pushing on. I know eventually I'll get back to having some time for myself, for friends and for family, but for now it's been all about work, unpacking and Ray of Light.

Oh yeah, I moved. I moved on Oct 18th. It's been almost a month, and I'm still completely surrounded by boxes. My new roommate left a note on my bedroom door last night saying that she hoped I was okay because she hadn't seen me in over a week. She called me last Wednesday morning to make sure I was alive because I hadn't come home.

I hadn't been home because I stayed overnight in San Francisco for work. I was working late because of a large conference and big client party. Usually gigs like that are fun, but this one was ALL work. I'm still not sure how I survived last week.

Ray of Light did a fantastic and extremely successful production of The Who's Tommy. I am so overjoyed by how far this little company has come in the last nine years and I can not wait to see what's in store for us next. I know I'm only a small part of the company, and I put in what I can, but what I get out of it makes me so happy that it's pretty much always worth all the extra exhaustion that comes from volunteering for show after show.
Take a look at these great reviews: Here. Here. And here.  Plus we had a consistent 4 3/4 stars out of a maximum of 5 stars on www.goldstar.com given by the general public that came to see the show.

What else did you miss?  Oh, Halloween. I had THE BEST costume.  Well, maybe not THE best of all time, but it was sooo good.  Everyone had to do a double take - they didn't know it was me!


    

I was a cigarette girl.  Cute wig and hat, a corset and a box full of candy and other assorted goodies.  Me and my fav theatre family and a little Capt'n time; I don't think I can remember having a better Halloween.



Whoo hoo...Ahoy Capt'n!  ;-)  haha, I couldn't resist.

Photos of the entire night are on my flickr page.

Sigh...time for bed.  The Capt'n is insisting that I'm in bed by 9:30p every night this week so that I can get a good night's rest.  Eh, I'm only an hour late, plus he's stuck in the Gulf of Mexico for another 50 days.  :-p   So, pppffffttt.  Castle is on tonight! I can't miss it!!

Welcome to this month's installment of 12 of 12.  Check out Chad's blog for the history as well as this weeks twelvers.  Happy Easter Eggs!




8:49am:  Easter mass music program...there were a lot of Alleluias today.



11:11am:  Most people watch the Ten Commandments or the Sound of Music on Easter...I think I'll start a new tradition of watching Sex and the City.  LOVED that movie.

11:49am:  This is known as "church hair."



12:33pm:  P-town!  Main road up into the residential hills. There are neon green hills here too. 




12:50pm:  Backyard Creatures Photo#1 - Garden Lizard.




12:51pm:  Backyard Creature Photo#2 - Casey the Monster Dog.




1:32pm:  Decorating eggs with my Dad





1:58pm:  My mom, teaching me how to make deviled eggs.




2:07pm:  My masterpieces.  We had chubby eggs and the little cardboard decorations wouldn't fit, so they sort of looked like Rambo Eggs.




3:07pm:  Went to visit Nani at the nursing home.  My aunts got her that Bunny.  It sings Brickhouse (or some other song that requires the white-man's-overbite dance moves) and the ears swing up and down to the beat.  Cute...wonder how long that will last before the nurses take it and toss it so they don't have to listen to it anymore...




8:23pm:  Enjoying too much wine at dinner means I forget to take photos of the pretty table or all the guests.  I took these as people were leaving.  I said "smile," and for some reason my brother and sister decided to pick up/show off the sugar cookies that were on the dessert plate.  Then they put the cookies back after their dirty fingers were all over them.




8:24pm: The parental units.

Sorry to be short and sweet tonight, but I'm tired and need as much sleep as I can get since this week seems pretty daunting as I try to prepare for my two-week vacation starting this time next week.  Lots to do and people to see before I go and not a lot of time to do it all in.  Breathe....breathe...Italy in T-minus SEVEN DAYS!!!!!!
 

I meant to post this back on Valentine's Day, but there have been musicals (www.roltheatre.com) and birthdays and baby shower shopping going on, and I didn't have enough time to really get all my thoughts together.  There aren't many of you who read this that aren't my mom, so I apologize for the lack of content lately.  The shininess of Facebook is waring off, so I'm sure I'll have more things to say soon that take up more than a couple of lines.

Anyway, back to the story that's been brewing in my head. 

So Friday night I got an email from a guy that I had been out with only a couple of times, but it was a good start and I was genuinely excited about the prospect of going out on a third day.  So far he'd done everything right.  He asked me out via the phone, and NOT text message.  He planned both dates quite nicely; he even asked for suggestions for a good date place in the city from co-workers instead of waiting till we met up to ask me what I wanted to do or what I recommended.  He was a gentleman; he opened doors, picked up the check, made sure I got home okay.  It was nice to be doted on a bit.  He even paid me a few compliments. 

I know none of this is AMAZING.  But I've been on SOOOOOO many bad dates lately that even just the simple things, like telling me he's going to call and then ACTUALLY calling, have totally started to separate the clueless boys from the men.

Anyway, so here it is, the day before Valentine's Day and I haven't heard from this guy in almost a week and he said he was going to call on Monday.  So unlike him.  I talked it over with girlfriends and coworkers and none of us could make any sense from it.  Being the type of girl that doesn't dwell on guys that obviously aren't interested, meaning, the ones that don't call, this made me pause.  Was I mistaken?  Maybe I dreamed up how fantastic our two dates had been?  Maybe all his friends that he introduced me to on our second date thought I was lame and they were just being nice to me to my face?  Maybe he'd been in an accident on his way home from a business trip on Monday when he said he was going to call and he was in the hospital and couldn't use his cell phone?

Of course none of that was the case.  He HAD been a on a business trip that ended up lasting a few extra days and he told me that he honestly hadn't brought along his phone charger and he had no battery left to make any phone calls...and it's not like he has my number memorized.  I'm choosing to believe that.  But in the same email he said that he'd been thinking that although he loved the time we spent together that he thought we lived too far from each other to consider a romantic relationship. 

Sigh.  I guess I knew that it could be an issue.  We live more than an hour from each other and are both very busy.  There's no easy mutual location for dates.  Sigh.  But still, I thought I would be worth the little extra effort of driving into the east bay.

I'm bummed, but I'm fine.  This whole thing just kind of reminded me that this isn't the first time I've been dumped the day before Valentine's Day.  The first time was in fifth grade.  I was "going out with" Nick* for about a couple of months.  We were the equivalent of the prom king and queen of my fifth grade class.  We sat next to each other in class.  During the reading period where the whole class read aloud from a novel, we would scoot our desks together and read from the same book.  We never held hands.  We definitely never kissed.  It was a fifth grade romance.  He passed me a note that asked if I liked him and I checked the box yes.  We were happy. 

Until the day before my first Valentine's Day with a "boyfriend" when Nick's best friend came up to me at recess and said, "Hey, Nick doesn't want to be your boyfriend anymore."  And that was it.  I went from having a boyfriend in the morning and then no boyfriend after lunch.  We spent the rest of fifth grade in the same class and you could cut the tension with a spork.

The only thing that makes me feel better about this story is that Nick came crawling back in the 8th grade and I got to happily reject him.  But I digress...

So, two times I've been the dumpee pre-Valentine's Day.  It's tough.  I think I'm pretty cool. A good catch.  I might not be the hip, city girl I once was, but I'm usually up for most parties or activities.  Maybe my problem is that I've been trying way too hard lately.  Every single guy becomes a prospective date.  It's too much pressure on the guys and on myself.   I met Karl on a whim; a complete fluke while I was trying to fix Laura up with a date.  I wasn't looking, i wasn't trying, I wasn't even putting my best self forward.  The more I think about that, the more I figure that's going to be the way I meet my next significant other.  It's going to be when I'm not looking.

I've been a bit secretive about trying out online dating.  I've tried it and it has been a disaster to put it lightly.  Everyone tells me that i should try it (not knowing that I all ready am) because it's the BEST WAY to meet a lot of available guys.  Besides the main issues I run in to the most - no guys in my area, no guys in my area that are under 40, no guys in my area that are under 40, have a job and like to do something besides camp or play video games.  Besides those issues the main reason the online dating stuff kind of weirds me out is that on the flip side to meeting a lot of people all at once is that i'm being rejected by dozens of guys ALL THE TIME.  Online dating is just one big rejection after another.   Guys take a look at my profile and don't think I'm cute enough or whatever enough to write or even send a lazy ass wink.  Guys email me, i email back, they email, I email back and then NOTHING.  They don't ask for my number, they don't ask if we can meet, they just fade away.  OR, I meet a great guy, he asks for my number, he asks to go out, he asks for a second date before the end of the first, and then a week after the second date he decides he likes everything about you except that you live too far away in the wrong direction.

It. Is. Exhausting.  And Frustrating.  My heart still hasn't fully recovered from the non-closure of my relationship with Karl.  All the first and second dates over the past two years have just worn away what pieces of my heart I was able to put back together before jumping back in the dating scene.  I think I just need to be done for awhile.  I think I'm going to log off of all these dating sites and just go back to what I was doing - nothing.  This doesn't mean I won't date (mom, don't have a heart attack, and don't call me for a mother-daughter talk either, I'm fine), this just means I'll only be accepting dates from guys I meet in person or guys my friends set me up with.  The online dating world just isn't for me right now.

I've got plenty to focus on right now anyway.  I'm going to Vegas this weekend for a friend's birthday.  I have the Europe trip in April and I'm still in the process of learning Italian for that.  My room is a disaster; I really need to clean, organize, purge junk, buy adult furniture, etc.  I have to watch the first season of Lost so I can send back the DVDs to Cap't Dave instead of having a constant reminder of him sitting on top of my TV.  I also need more shoes and purses.  Really, I have plenty of things to do and focus on that having a boyfriend, or even a dating life at the moment will just hinder all my plans.

I still believe in Love.  I know it's out there.  It has just been kicking my ass a little too much lately, so I'm going to sit out a few rounds and try to get stronger and wiser before jumping back in the ring.

*Names have been changed**

**Except his name really was Nick.  I just couldn't come up with another name that sounded believeable.

UPDATE as of 11:19pm:  I have to add that another reason I'm hating online dating is because a majority of the guys that do email me CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH.  I'm not talking about bad grammar, I mean they DON'T SPEAK THE LANGUAGE.  I'm not dating someone that I can't talk to or only wants to date me in hopes of a green card.  And the bad grammar drives me nuts as well.

2007 was an extraordinarily crappy year.  Thus I had high hopes for 2008.  Maybe too high.  While I can look around and see how difficult this year was for a lot of my friends, I guess I can't say the year has been awful to me, but it's pretty hard watching the people you care about struggle and deal with more than their share of crap and grief.  I sit here, 98 minutes into 2009 and feel like I can take a 20/20 hindsight look at the past year - some good stuff, some bad stuff, but most of it was, meh...whatever.  But I hate to have a "whatev" kind of year...so...2009, you've got your work cut out for you. 

My favorite photos from 2008

~ 2008 highs and lows and inbetweens ~
The year of weddings: Kelly and Troy, Bella and Mark, Lyndsey and Dan, Derek and Monica, Laura and Jason, Chris and Shane.  Wonderful, beautiful friends (and family) - these memories are the the ones I  most love from the past year.

Travels: Telluride, Reno, New York...  The more I travel, the more I love it.  This might not be a good thing for the savings account.  I'm looking forward to lots of photos in 2009 of Vegas, Italy and Spain.  And wherever else I can be persuaded to travel to.

Work:  Hey, I still have a job.  A job I do well.  A job I never thought I'd be doing, at least not for over five years.  I am grateful, even with the aggravation of day to day things and the odd hours and commute, but the economy has hit my industry very hard and that has shown in multiple rounds of layoffs and cutbacks.  There's another one rumored for January and everyone is feeling less and less secure.

Dating:  Meh.  It's unfortunate that the men I meet now have a lot to live up to.  Sure, you're not supposed to compare one guy to the next, but, let's admit it, we all do it.  I feel like I was lucky enough to find something so wonderful once and now all potential suitors seem a bit lackluster.  Also lazy.  But mostly, they haven't a clue how to treat a woman.  I'm not picky; I just have high standards.

Friends:  I have great friends.  Honestly.  No drama, no primadonnas and no one that I couldn't call for a favor if I needed one.  However, I'm beginning to realize how much I miss having a large group of friends to do stuff with.  Everyone that was part of my core set of friends before college are all spread out now.  I only see Boomie once in a blue moon and that's THE hardest part - I miss having my best friend just across town.  It's been 10 years since we've lived in the same town, but somehow it's bothering me more this year than any of the past years. 

Loss:  There have been two significant losses this year.  The first was my Great Uncle Vince.  His health had been going downhill for years and I think we were all preparing ourselves, but it's never easy.  He was my last Great Uncle and his passing has hit me very hard.  It's even hard to type this without fighting back tears.  I take comfort in knowing how wonderful my childhood was in part because of his role in my life and in the entire family.  I have many great memories that I will hold dear to my heart and I know my cousins and I will keep him alive in our hearts and in the stories we tell of him and his dirty jokes that we'll repeat for years to come.
The other loss isn't so much mine as it is Clair's.  And it's her story to tell, so I won't go into too much detail here.  But I am grieving for her...with her...knowing that we've reached the part of our lives where a parent's presence isn't such a guarantee anymore is a hard chapter to deal with (obviously "hard" is a gross understatement).  My heart has been very heavy this holiday season.

The New Year:  Back to the group of friends issue...It makes it hard to get a group of people together for a big night like New Years' Eve when you have various friends that aren't all connected or know each other in some way.  No one makes a commitement.  They're all holding out for a better offer.  Last year I was a bit hurt by this and felt sorry for myself, but this year I decided to just not make a bit deal out of it.  I originally had plans to clean and organize my bedroom, closet, desk, etc.  I started on this project last weekend and got a lot done, but I still have a lot of crap that I've collected over the years to sort through.  But then I realized I'd probably end up being depressed at home all by myself watching TV and cleaning, so I decided to treat myself to some movies, 1) because there are lots of great movies out right now and 2) I NEVER go see movies.  I love to, but I never find the time.  So I thought, maybe if I went and saw at least a couple of movies, including a late night movie that would go into the new year, I could just sort of avoid all the hub bub and enjoy myself at the same time.  I mentioned this on Facebook the other night and my long time friend Jim asked if he could join me.  I thought - "how great! I'm not a loser! I have a friend!!"  haha.  So tonight, Jimmy and I met up in Pleasant Hill to watch "Marley and Me" at 7pm.  Awesome movie; fairly true to the style of the book, and I completely bawled my eyes out.  Girls, this is a 5 hanky movie.  Jim's a tough guy...he didn't shed a tear, but I appreciated that he didn't tease me about the waterworks.  We were too depressed to sit through "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", which we had planned to watch next because it would have ended after 1am, so we went and saw "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey instead.  I wasn't too sure at first, but I let Jim choose and I'm so glad we saw it.  It totally lifted my spirits and we had a great time.  We got out around 11:15pm and went in search of food.  We were at the Denny's in Concord when the clock struck midnight and we toasted to the new year with his Sprite and my cup of hot chocolate over plates of pancakes and french toast.  It was a lovely evening, and true to form, I had to take a picture to capture what we looked like just before the start of 2009.





And then I went home and watched the last part of Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve on TV with my four-legged best friend.



It might seem lame to some people, but this was really the best way to ring in a new year.  I hope yours was just a lovely.

Happy New Year everyone. :-)

I know I've been MIA, but I'm home sick with a headcold and figured I'd finally catch up on blogging, reading and writing on my own. There have been a couple of parties around here. Lots of shopping. Many photos.


some of my favorites -




A co-worker and me at the office holiday party at Beetlenut.  We had too much fun with our sparkly hats from Walgreens.




We give out gag gifts for our party, and as one of the assistants, it's part of my job to plan these parties, including the gag gifts.  This is a blow up doll of one the higher ups.  Do you know how difficult it is to find a non-anatomimcally correct blow-up doll?  Did you know that blow up dolls can go for around $500 dollars?  You do NOT want to know what those pricey dolls include. 

Do you know how embarassing it is to tell a cab driver to drop you off at Big Al's in San Francisco with a straight face? 

Yes, I get paid well.



And it did turn out pretty well.



This is me getting my gag gift.  A Bratz microphone, because my secret ambition is to be a superstah singer.  And a tshirt that says "Mother Hen," because I take care of all the boys at work...mostly by yelling at them and telling them what to do.



A part of the gag gift tradition is that everyone MUST WEAR ALL GIFTS.  No matter how embarassing.

     

They're good sports

Then there was a little holiday party the next night at a friend's house.  Adriane and I attended, kinda felt like the only people there over 25 and when my friend Neill and his friend Pete showed up we made a break for John Collin's.

It was Neill's last night in town before moving to New York for work.  So sad.  But we had a good time.  And I don't know where the cowboy hat came from.


Pete and Adriane



Me with Pete



Neill and me



Adriane and me.

So, from all this fun, I'm now sitting on the couch, watching the American President on TV and playing copious amounts of Mexican Train on Facebook.  I still have three gifts left to pick up, cookies to bake and laundry to wash.

Sigh.  It's raining. 

Is the food coma over? Or has round two just begun?

It's day 28 of Nablopomo. I'm drawing a blank over what to talk about. I've realized the more I write on this blog, the fewer intimate things I can talk about. I don't talk about dating because honestly, I won't write about anyone I'm just dating and not in a relationship with. Even if it may be good blog fodder.

Fodder - that's a word, right?

I've also stood my ground about writing anything specific about my job. Except that the market sucks and it's greatly affecting the type of work I'm in.

So besides work and dating, what else do I do? Sleep. Play with Shelby. Watch TLC (which by the way - What Not To Wear marathon on ALL DAY today. Fantabulous). I've basically stopped my exercise routine. I definitely plan to start up again next week, but how much yoga do ya'll want to hear about?

Basically, I'm not sure what I'm writing about anymore. This is supposed to be, "Where's Steph?" Either physically, emotionally, mentally.... WHere am I today? Hard to say. I'm physically at home, although I went over to Laura and Jason's for a few hours for dinner and a rousing game of Mexican Train. 

Emotionally, I think I'm doing ok.  Holidays are hard.  My mind is on the passing of Uncle Vince, of Clair home with her family in NY, and me not in a relationship this year.  I was on my own for years during the holidays and never had a problem with it.  I always looked forward to time with family and seeing friends home from college, but then I had three great holiday years with K and I guess I got used to having someone special around and it made the holidays even nicer.  Honestly, the holidays are a bit empty this year.

Mentally, I feel good.  Feel like i'm paying more attention to the world.  I'm also a totally wiz at the Chronicle crossword puzzles.  I also kicked Jason's ass in the Family Feud (yahoo games version) tonight.

So where are you guys?  How are you doing?

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving. Here's a family favorite...

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

I think I'm going to have THE most mellow Thanksgiving EVER. 

I'm driving to Pittsburg on Thursday around mid-day for dinner with the family and then coming back home that evening.  Then...NOTHING.

I'm so excited I can't stand it.  There are books to read, nails to paint, possibly even a productive moment of cleaning my bathroom or vacuuming my bedroom.  But other than that I plan to sleep in and center myself with lots of TLC.  The cable channel, not the other acronym.

Finally home after a very long, fun-filled day. After the bears won 37-16 and I got to see my first ever Axe exchange, I meandered my way down to bart, got to my car and drove into the city for the annual St Dominic's contemporary choir pre-Thanksgiving dinner party. Everyone is required to bring something they've never made before. I made truffles and they were delicious (kept them in a cooler of ice in my trunk while I was at the game). All the dishes were good - and after three years we haven't had a bad one yet. It was super fun to see everyone, but I was so drained from the game and my earlier partying that I decided to NOT go to the Rocky Horror cast party down in Brisbane, and instead I drove back home and am now laying in my bed about to shut off the light. I'm so tired. So full. So happy.

Good night

Photos from Rocky and Shane and Chris' wedding on Halloween are up at Flickr.  (Rocky/Wedding Set)

Also, just in case you haven't noticed or I haven't friended you yet, I'm FINALLY a member of Facebook.  Stop by and say Hi.  Linking to it over there on the Right. See it?  Right there.  THERE.  Okay, good.

Take it away Clair.

Talked myself out of going to the CAL game today vs. the Ducks. Four hours of sleep, exhausted from the whole week AND the torrential downpour in the East Bay at the moment started to outweigh my desire to watch a kick-ass game of football. I love rainy games. Turnovers, spectacular touchdowns mixed in with slippery runs and spills. It's so exciting.

I'm so lame. I know it. But at least I'm dry, warm, comfy in my pjs. I've got a pot pie in the microwave and a puppy sleeping nearby. It's not so bad to be lame.

NOTE: Halloween was awesome, but I will be reminding myself of how difficult it is to get in, out and around the city on nights like last night before I try to do Halloween in the City again. Photos from the show and wedding shortly.

I remembered my feather boa, but I forgot my black bob wig. Went to walgreens and all they had were fairy princess pink sparkle wigs.

Not sure I'm going to look as cute tonight as I wanted to, but ohwell, it's Rocky Horror Show, everyone will look weird.

COME CHECK OUT THE SHOW!!!!!
Rockysf.com

Having a great time watching/listening to Steelehorse Stampede in Foster City outside near the water waiting for the fireworks show at 9:30p. The band may be entertaining, but all the little kids dancing and spinning and laughing are really stealing the show.

Easter is one of only two days during the year where there's a line to get IN to church 30 minutes prior to the mass.  

Focusing on the positive:

Yesterday I went to lunch with friends and Mark gave Clair, Sherry and me each a white rose for Valentine's Day.  I put mine in a vase and put it on my desk at work and when I came into the office today it had bloomed so beautifully.  Everytime I walked over to my desk and saw the flower it was sooo pretty that I just had to smile.  Friends are really great.

I had a coupon for Anne Taylor Loft so I took a long lunch and brought myself some pretty tops and a really great work skirt that I can't wait to wear when the weather gets a bit warmer.

I had  planned to go to the movies by myself tonight to see the new Ryan Reynold's movie, "Definitely, Maybe."  It looked like the perfect chick flick to enjoy all on my own, but when I got home Lyndsey was popping herself some popcorn for dinner and Dan was at work, so I asked if she wanted to join me.  It wasn't as great a movie as I wanted it to be, but it was good enough and it was awesome to have some company and a friend to laugh with and comment with about the cheesy, predictability of the movie.

Shelby dog was super excited to see me.  And although that's a routine occurance, it's still nice to be so welcomed everytime I walk through the door...or return from the bathroom.

I looked at a bunch of various astrological websites offering free 2008 predictions, but the Chronicle was the only one that was concise.  I didn't feel like evaluating too much.  Interestingly enough, at least five of the websites I looked at mentioned in the first couple of sentences that this is a good year for me to get married.  That's practically unimaginable at this point in my life.  But it's nice to dream.

TAURUS (April 19-May 19) Perspective, as well as knowledge, comes from travel or advanced study this year. You'll want to evaluate an intimate alliance and its impact on your future. What promises to evolve is a new lifestyle, possibly in another country. Space and reflection become increasingly important as the year progresses and you step into the limelight. On May 5 a decision shapes your life. Look for results around Oct. 14. Your challenge this year is to be patient with the small stuff. The reward is karmic. 

My Christmas holiday was fantastic this year.  It was nice to be home and a part of the festivities; there were lots of people, lots of food and goodies, presents galore, singing and laughing and everyone was pretty darn happy.  Mom and I did bake for like eight hours and we cleaned and finished decorating all day Sunday and Monday before people arrived, but it was all worth it. 

My favorite present this year wasn't anything that someone could buy for me, it was being able to FINALLY meet my new cousin, Baby James David, or JD as his dad is trying to get us to call him, otherwise he might be known as Baby James forever.  But he is the fourth James of that family, so we have to distinguish him SOMEHOW.  hehe

Here's some good shots - full family Christmas photos are up on the Flickr



Special Delivery!


Cousins!  Jimmy, Laura, me and Baby James...uh, I mean JD.


Nani meeting her Great-Grandson for the first time.


Four Generations - My Auntie Anna, Nani, Jimmy and JD.


This is my favorite shot - I think I may have to frame it.


This one is pretty adorable too.

Ok...no more baby photos...here are some of the other highlights:


My sister had surgery on her ankle, so now she's in a cast.  At least it's a festive cast.


These our my grandparents on my mom's side of the family.


These are the guys we hire to wash all the dishes.  Just kidding.  That's Anna's boyfriend, Scott on the left and my Uncle Dave.  Dave used to do the dishes all on his own before Scott came on the scene.  They're a good tag-team now.  It's also Uncle Dave's birthday on Christmas Eve...we get him a cake but we still make him do the dishes.


Here's my dad with some of the crab legs we had for dinner.  it's Italian tradition to have seafood for Christmas eve, it's pretty much the only time I have crab, I don't know why, it's pretty darn good.  Although I do order crab cakes whenever I can at restaurants, and I always put them on the menu for client events at work.  YUM.


This is Christmas morning with the immediate family.  My bro and Josie, Laura and J, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Papa Jim...and me.  Sorry you can't see my jammies; I just take the photos.
We had just finished our traditional breakfast of Ebelsceevers (don't ask me to spell this correctly, but say it phonetically and it'll be almost right), which are little Danish pancakes.  mmmmm



Laura and J got a lot of loot.  I'm having issues with the vertical shots...I hate working on the Mac.


So did Lou and Josie...look, they're strategizing which gift to open next.


Dad finally got that wagon he always wanted.


And mom opened her gazillioneth Department 56 house.  Merry Christmas!!


Time for a post present Christmas nap.


Even Casey Jones is happy.

Hope everyone had just as great a holiday as I did.  Happy New Year!







...









Oh, I HAD to post one more.  :-)