November 30, 2009

Real Fir

In all my Christmases I don't recall having the tree up and decorated before December, which makes this year an exception.

Inspired by our previous decorating and looking to maximize our tree dollar, Brooke and I selected a tree and adorned it with the usual accoutrements. This activity offers the rare opportunity to ask questions like "Should the fish go next to the snowflake or near the pickle?".

Afterwards we relaxed with some wine and celebrated another late November ritual, watching the Bears' post-season chances evaporate.

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November 27, 2009

Thanks Given

Did Thanksgiving with Brooke's family and friends out in the Western suburbs and all was delightful. Started early with a soup course, then broke for some board games and football-watching.

Since Brooke's mom already has a dog, I was nervous about bringing both of ours (Chewbacca, who we adopted in September and Linus, who we've been fostering since late October) but they did fairly well ... except for one incident:

Jim:
Guys? I think one of the dogs had an accident on the rug upstairs.
Nan: Uh-oh ... number 1 or number 2?
Jim:
Jesus, I have no idea which dog did it.

Soon after the mess was cleaned, we dug into turkey and stuffing. For being a strict vegetarian, Brooke's mom is one hell of a good preparer of meat dishes she'll never get to enjoy.

Dinner was followed by a game of boys vs. girls Trivial Pursuit in which the menfolk barely eked out a victory after taking nearly an hour to roll our way into the elusive center space. I was given an MVP award for the Entertainment category queries for answering a few reeeeeeeally specific movie questions like "In The Usual Suspects, what character was played by Chazz Palminteri?" and "If Vincent reads Modesty Blaise, what's the film?" ... the answers are David Kujan and Pulp Fiction, respectively.

[huffs on fingernails, polishes on jacket lapel]

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November 26, 2009

Fam Club


I took off work Wednesday to run a few errands in the suburbs and hang with my family since we'll be with Brooke's all day on Thanksgiving. It's nice to be out in the suburbs if just to be reminded that not everywhere (nor everyone) is as dense as our far North Side neighborhood of Edgewater.

Much of the day was spent playing with my high-voltage nephew Jackson, who here demonstrates the art of coloring while wearing an as-seen-on-TV 'Ove' Glove.

The highlight of our playtime involved Lincoln Logs:

Me:
[builds small-but-impressive cabin]
Jack:
[knocks over afforementioned cabin] "I'm sorry Johnpee I didn't mean to knock over your house."

Repeat.

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November 24, 2009

We Be Deckin'


This weekend's trip to put some stuff in the storage locker turned into a mission to bring all the holiday gear upstairs, which turned into us setting out Christmas decorations five days before Thanksgiving.

No tree yet, but a variety of holiday-inspired items are now shedding glitter and/or needles onto most of the flat surfaces in our living room and dining room.

Also: 2009 marks the first year I'll ask unironically "Should we use the Christmas dishes?"

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November 21, 2009

Fall Back


So I've returned to blogging. This time with a slightly more permanent address and, I hope, a better discipline for keeping the thing updated.

The above photo was taken outside a nearby garden and craft store called Gethsemane. They're very knowledgeable when it comes to helping you put together an outdoor flower box in the spring, but starting in November it becomes a Christmastastic boutique packed with expensive ornaments and decorations. I don't mind going a couple times per year but Brooke loves to linger there, picking up every item and requesting my validation that it is, in fact, cute.

Totally cute. Supercute.

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