What a Christmas. We went to ye olde Rochester, NY for classic family yuletide cheer. And of course we brought the boy (Mason) along. Let me just say that his family loves him! Toys, Toys, Toys! and he’s only one year old. It was momentous that we could turn his car seat around toward the front.

Other random thoughts… I bought $25 brand new boots to leave at home, Tricia bought $16 retro-1975 shoes to bring back to Chicago. My cousin Jason cut his long hair, my sister Lindsey grew out her semi-short hair. Full-size beds are much smaller than King-size beds, playpens from the mid 80’s are much larger than playpens from the 00’s. Babies like boxes and wrapping paper more than toys, Daddies like toys more than boxes and wrapping paper.

I got Grand Theft Auto Vice City for Christmas. It has to be the best game in the world. I know what I’m doing on New Years.

I don’t get to the blog too much…when I do, it’s quality. Memorial Day was a week ago, and I still can’t believe how strange the final hour of it was. We put together our new firepit and stacked it high with the usual kindling and logs, then lit ‘er up on our back porch. Soon the fire was crackling. The air was full of that campfire smell, and Trish and I were chatting about the weekend. We put the cover on thinking that it would be better for the house if it weren’t quite so hot. After about a minute I start to hear sizzling…. sizzling…. sizzzleFOOM! All of the sudden the outside of the cover spontaneously combusted!

I hate to admit it, but I froze. I stood there thinking, “Wow, that’s a really big fire.” Me, the Boy Scout who is supposed to Be Prepared. My wife, the practical one who didn’t want the house to catch fire went for the fire extinguisher. By the way, fire extinguishers work! We put the cover out, then had a hearty chuckle as we thought of the friends who declined to come over that night. They’ll have to wait for another time to come “wind down the weekend with us.”