Christmas Day

As my sister has so lovingly reminded me, I haven't put up Christmas DAY yet and she didn't like being left hanging (not that I blame her). Thus, may I present to you...

Christmas Day Greed Shots!

We have had obligatory greed shots since I was a baby. We sit on the top of the stairs, and are not allowed to come downstairs and see the loot until we are photographed. These are often extremely beautiful pictures, as we are able to display spontaneously both eyes-popping-out-of-head greediness AND just-rolled-out-of-bed bleariness. Lovely.


This year we added a third member to our photography shoot. Yay Kate!


Then we surveyed the loot.



Is that a Grad School acceptance letter in the tree?


Before opening anything, we just walked around looking extremely attractive.




It took us only about an hour, but we opened all of our presents. I got a vacuum and a staple hammer. It just isn't a good Christmas unless you are given potential murder weapons.

After this Christmas bacchanalia, we settled into the cozy after-effects of such bliss. Mostly we just sat around, being amused by everything and anything that wandered into our field of vision. Case in point: Rudolph, the blow-up deer head, given to Dad by Aunt Wendy. It is quite possibly the most disturbing present ever.


There were also lots of small round furry kittens to watch. This one is Marcella, but we think she is a boy so she's also known as Martin.



The other kittens are no-names.



This is a Stealth Cat (TM), who we believe is some sort of Russian spy.




Kate was very amused by the Little Golden Book version of Walt Disney's Santa's Toy Shop (1950).



And then there's this...


Not all of these kittens belong to this cat (different litters, different moms) so her expression is priceless. It reminds me of this lolcat picture...

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2008

So the first part of Thanksgiving was spent over at my aunt's house. Dad immediately fell into conversation with Uncle Bob...


...while the kids ate dessert.


And we generally just stared at each other, trying to figure out exactly how we were related to one another...


...And of course Dad couldn't resist playing with the kids...



It actually looks like he's threatening them in this picture, but this was after they had pelted him with stuffed animals...


...And of course there was the general chatter of the grown-ups (except I really have no idea what Kimmie's doing...)

...this one's better...

And of course there's the obligatory sibling shot...



...and of course lots of cameras...


Finally Dad and I said goodbye and went home to this lovely feast:


Yummy. There were two turkeys: Dad smoked one intentionally using the smoker, while Mum smoked hers--not so intentionally--using the oven. There were the usual mashed potatoes and gross whole-cranberry concoctions, and olives and pickles, and bad jokes ("I really am kahlua-less about what time the yams will be done" and "I don't have any kahlua who ate the rest of the yams...").

...but the biggest mystery of the whole feast was where is the turkey head? Without the head, the pineapple just looks like a.... pineapple.

The Covered Bridge in summer

So remember these photos? Well, now that it's summer the bridge looks completely different. I wandered out there a few days ago and took pictures of it. It's pretty amazing.



The road it's on used to connect the two major towns, but now it's just an ATV trail. This abandoned(?) house sits not far from the bridge, and I often wonder about it.


At the end of the trail there's a farm, and I loved how these flowers waved in their little garden...


It's just pretty. I like it.