Let it snow, let it snow...

Thanksgiving dinner has come and gone making it time to celebrate Christmas in our household!  Actually, we cheated because we started last night.  We couldn't help ourselves.  It was snowing and cold and it looked like the holidays!  Since we had put the lights up several weeks ago while it was still warm they were all ready to go and there was nothing to keep us from turning the timers on, so we did, and we don't regret it.  We actually got several inches of snow through yesterday and today.  Last night we kicked off our holidays with Christmas music, a movie and a fire.  And what better way to celebrate Thanksgiving morning than with pancakes and Ghostbusters.  We made sure that we each got on the treadmill this morning, too, so that we would be able to eat more at dinner, and it was a good thing.  We did dinner at Cortney's parents' house with all the usual trimmings.  Her dad did the turkey on the smoker (really there is no better way!), and there was stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry salad, waldorf salad, squash, wine, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and various coffees.  New and different this year was the addition of Patty, Curtis' fiance, and her family.  We had a wonderful time sharing the holiday with them, and the excellent desserts they brought, too.  Patty's father evidently has a sweet-tooth from which all the rest of us benefited.  In addition to the pies we had Death by Chocolate cake and riced pudding.  They also brought a traditional Peruvian drink called Chicha (I think) that is made by boiling purple corn to extract the joice, and then adding sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and apple pieces.  The drink has a relaxing and calming affect, yet is non-alcoholic.  We enjoyed it, and we had a wonderful time learning more about their traditions and their family.  Now, again, we are relaxing off the effects of a tryptophan dinner with a fire and a movie. 

Happy snow, happy holidays! 

Video games are good for you

Or at least they are when they give you a complete aerobic workout, as is the case with Dance Dance Revolution. Now we are the proud owners of the Extreme home version of the incredibly popular arcade game. It has brought back memories of our early dating days when we would play it at Pinball Petes downtown. Only now we don't have to worry about looking dorky in front of strangers! Now we can look dorky in front of each other and the friends we are sure to have over to play. While we aren't likely to ever have the skills of the tournament masters, we are definitely improving. The only question is, how long will it be until we give in a get a second floormat controller for dueling action?

Help, hope and prayers

Our hearts and prayers go out to all the people affected by Hurricane Katrina.  We feel deeply sorry for all the people who have lost their homes and loved ones, for the region that has lost many of its prized and charming cities, and for the nation that has lost much of its dignity in the way that people, both inside and outside the tragedy, have responded.  If we learn nothing else from this horrific chain of events, we should at least come away knowing that mother nature cannot and will not be tamed by men, and that human nature finds it much easier to point a finger than to lift one.  
We are not innocent of this;  We have pretended that we understand the angst the victims are experiencing, yet we have felt angered by the looting, shooting and rioting;  We ourselves feel frustrated by the weakness of government and institution response, yet there is little that we ourselves have done.  Last night we called 1-800-HELP-NOW and donated what we could to the Red Cross.  Now perhaps we can feel that we have helped, but inside it does not feel like enough.
This one natural disaster has brought an entire nation to its knees.  Now, while we are there, we must pray for us all.

www.redcross.org

Good wine doesn't come under $15

Or at least it's hard to find. Out of 73 bottles at the "World's Greatest Wine Values" tasting with the Ann Arbor Tasters Guild, we each found only two that we might enjoy—and they weren’t even the same two between us. Many contained sulfur stronger than a coal mine, and one, according to the sponsor, was the best (or is that worst?) example of bad corked wine he’d ever had. Others were far sweeter than our roughened palates approved of. Even so, it was an event well worth experiencing. Jon had never been to a tasting before, while this was Cortney’s fourth. It was fairly crowded, but the people spread themselves out evenly enough, the only downside being that the hors d'oeuvres went quickly. We were all quite stunned by the enormous vat that the waitstaff poured the spit buckets into. We hear there’s quite a disgusting moment in the recent movie Sideways that is directly related to the spit bucket. We’ll have to check it out soon, especially with our newly enlightened vocabulary. Thanks, Dad H.

 Michigan football countdown: 5 days to go!

"Watch out, Jon's in manly mode!"

That has to be the quote of the day.  As if we had a quote of the day.  Well, we do in this entry, and as one can tell by the picture, Jon really was in manly mode this evening; with a hatchet (a purchase he was very proud of) and his goggles he set out to break up some fire wood for tonight’s deck fire (this being after he grilled the burgers, too).  Now, if that isn’t manly mode, what is?  I suppose we could have added a flannel shirt.  Kristin and Matt tell us that part is required for the Lumberjack Competition on ESPN.  But flannel or no, Jon and Matt got the job done and all four of us felt strangely proud to roast marshmallows over a good strong fire that we built ourselves. The last time Jon and I tried to build a fire in our new outdoor fireplace we failed miserably and the partially burned logs from that evening are still gracing our catch-all box (read: old sandbox) in the backyard.  But tonight we were successful and it felt like a right of passage – we made a fire without the help of the scout master!  By the way, we also underwent another right of passage today, this one a hold over from the 1950s suburban American dream – Matt and Kristin called to borrow an egg to make the cake that they were bringing over for dessert tonight.  Now, we realize that it wasn’t a cup of sugar, but we figure that this is close enough.  Yes, I suppose we are adults now… when we want to be.

Michigan football countdown:  6 days to go!