Hey everybody; it's time for the Christmas/New Year's picture update. First, here is me being retarded WITH A GIRL. This is Adriana; she is a very good friend. Also, very beautiful and a great all-around person. We may be seeing more of her, who knows, but the fact of the matter is that she is all right in my book, and that's saying something. I'm hamming it up, as usual.



Next is the Christmas tree. I got to have everybody stay at my house this year, and it was quite a week for me. Since I had never hosted before, all of the decorations and everything had to be purchased. Actually, it was probably easier to do it all at once, so it all matched really well. It's a drak pic, but the tree and presents were really beautiful. It was almost a shame to open everything.



I hit my goal of 165 pounds. That is 30 pounds less than this time last year. I probably put on 5 or 6 pounds in the last 2 weeks since the pic, but that's just holiday weight and is easily removed. This is very significant to me because it is within 10 pounds of my high school graduation weight, and at one point I was up to a whopping 240. I'm in the best shape of my life; it makes me happy.



Valerie on Christmas. Cats are plenty happy with wadded up christmas wrapping paper and rubber bands; no need to go all out for them.



Some delicious cookies that look like mice. Ironically, I cannot eat them, because they look like mice. Too cute to eat.



My nephew Gustav actually being quiet with Grampa for a few precious seconds, allowing me to retain my sanity. Thanks Dad.



That's all for now. I was very happy to have everyone here, but boy, was I ready for everyone to go. I didn't take any time off from work, so I was on the phone constantly, and had the little one running around, and it is end of the month/end of the year...I learned my lesson. Next year I will take this time off. I may not be able to spend Christmas with my family again for a while, because my brother's mother-in-law is grumbling about them spending time with her for a few years. I guess it's only fair. Everyone survived and had a good time. Nobody got drunk or into a fight or hurt anybody's feelings. For me, being able to survive it without having a nervous breakdown was awesome; it went absolutely as well as I had hoped. I made pancakes with bacon and sausage for breakfast, and I made a great ham for dinner, with fried potatoes, asparagus in a bacon viniagrette, carrots in a honey glaze, and my mother made a kickass rum cake.

So, that was the family update. Now we are getting ready for the new year. I will be writing my thoughts on that later.