Christmas x 2 = a blast

We had Christmas here at home on the 25th, I conquered Andrew's Aunt Gloria's stuffing. Everyone stayed late and we topped off the day with a 3 hour Apples to Apples marathon where Dad calmly waited for "a redhead, any redhead" to play a card.
Andrew and I both worked on the 26th so we headed east Friday at quitting time. We parked our sled in Ellicott City about 12:30 Friday night and when we awoke the next morning, it was Christmas again! We all had some yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast (I tip my hat to Missy) and I think we were all a little jealous of the fun Anna was having with plastic play food and a shopping cart that was just her size. Oooh, to be that age again!
Before all the adults crashed for the night, we managed to cram in another marathon of Apples to Apples. We learned that rain is cuddly and Andrew is dainty (riiiiight!), and Jimmie thinks telemarketers are.... ha! I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard with family! It was truly a night I will treasure. It's so much more fun than everyone watching different TV's or napping or flipping through catalogs.
So, good thing I remember all this. Even though I was smart and packed the camera AND the charger, I forgot to take it out of my bag while we were in Maryland. Oops. I was too busy having a blast.
Sunday morning, Andrew loaded the car, I hugged Meredith, we stuffed Raven in the backseat and we were off! Off to Jimmie's church service...Raven napped in his office in the chapel until after lunch and we hit the road for real.
We took the turnpike both ways, traffic was very light as we were going in the opposite direction of the majority of the travelers. And even though we have driven it about 50 times in 2 years, I am still convinced it's just a black hole or a wrinkle in time or something like that. Maybe I should look at a map.

Anna's Role Call

Dear Anna, We're sorry we could not include your two favorite kitties on our Christmas card, we simply cannot get all 5 pets to cooperate at the same time. To make up for it, I've posted 2 photos that have all our pets in them. See? Everyone's accounted for!

Sweetie and Raven:


Sonica, Wrig-Ree and Busdriver:

Firetrucks, Ambulances, and Driveway Ice Skating. Oh My.

Last night, Roo was in the kitchen during a commercial break. Our dining room shades were open and he could see a bunch of flashing red and white lights. I know what you're thinking, and no. Santa did not come early this year. Our next door neighbor fell earlier in the day and felt the need to be rushed to the hospital 8 hours later. I am told by her son and daughter in law that she does this every now and then. Thankfully, she will be just fine. I called next door to see if they needed a babysitter or anything after the EMT's left but Momma was already at home with the kids. Problem solved.
While the firetruck and ambulance were still in front of our house, a good friend across the street saw, and she thought there was something going on here. As I was clearing things up with her, another couple called. They drove by to check on their new house and saw all the excitement going on and they thought it was me in the ambulance. Whew. Did ya follow that?
A couple hours later, we were slip sliding away on our driveway trying to get in the truck. Our neighbor saw us making fools of ourselves and offered to throw some salt on our driveway while we scurried to Blockbuster to avoid late fees. We were seriously gone for 5 minutes, and upon our return we saw ice melting on our driveway AND our sidewalk! How thoughtful!
Andrew and I sat down after all that and realized we're surrounded in our neighborhood by people who genuinely care about us. It's such a change from apartment life in Columbia and condo life in Elkridge that it makes me downright giddy.

Winter has been here for about a month now. I just checked the forecast and it seems I should dig out my warm hat...Next Monday's high temp is 15...and the low is 14. I think it'll be a cold one.

Thanksgiving 2008
Roo carving the bird. It was so yummy. I'm still a little proud.


Roo and my Mom at the dining room table. What a feast we had!


Raven and her Uncle Meister being civil towards eachother. We gave thanks for this, too.

See? Random fun, as promised. Oh joy!

I took Raven to the groomer and came home with Sister Raven.


Since Sweetie has come out of her funk, she's been just as dominant as she once was. Here, she kicked Raven out of bed and claimed this one for herself. Raven stood by without protest.

I thought our sweet dog was depressed one night, so I begged Roo to give her peanut butter. Even better, put some on your nose, Honey, and let her give you kisses! I think I had the most fun here...


Dogasaur came trick or treating at our house...


And so did Dr. Miller, the Tooth Fairy!

It finally happened.

My memory stick in my camera ran out of room. Guess what that means....

Coming soon, to a blog near you: 6 months of random dog and cat pictures topped off with a nice helping of the first half of Thanksgiving 2008!

So I guess I'll actually have to delete every thing on the memory stick when I upload the pictures to my computer. I hate that idea. It seems so..final. Like eating the last bit of turkey and cranberry sauce...you can't just go back for more. Oh. Wow. That makes me want a Thanksgiving leftover samich, but we're out of leftovers. Whaaaa.