Happy Holiday!

Greetings--we hope everyone's Holiday season has been off to an enjoyable start and is currently at an enjoyable cruise control speed.  We had a very, very wonderful and enjoyable trip back to NE Ohio for Turkey Day.  We loved seeing and catching up with (some of) our family and friends, and we can't wait to get back again. And while it was great, it of course can never last long enough, but it does at least remind us of how lucky we've been in the family/friends category...

So, to the fun.  We spent Thanksgiving Eve with Bethany, who was kind enough to pick us up at the airport with a Surprise Guest, her mom. Since the cross country flight wasn't enough fun, we later decided to make a quick Tgiving Eve run to Walmart for a few items--always an adventure!

Then we went to the Klein gathering where great food was shared and enjoyed, especially this tasty (Birthday) apple crisp, photographed here with its baker, Grandma Klein:

A happy birthday for me...

Then we headed for G-ville, where we enjoyed more food and where I cleaned up the bird after dinner. That was a first, and not that fun of a first... However, it did lead to this fun. The wishbone. I told Cara we should pose like the guys from the Beat It video. She thought we should smile.

 

She also thought she should get her wish, too:

 

There she is with the winnings.

We also decided to give our Christmas gifts early, rather than have them "wait until Christmas" (quotes to denote the fact that very few presents would make it that long, as admitted by most of the recipients...)

It was fun, as shown here by Vincent, who was so thrilled about his CARS hat, he tried to put it on upsidedown and folded shut!

He was also excited to help his dad help his sister open her San Diego Zoo T-shirt:

(That guy doesn't just LOOK like his uncle Dan!)

We also had two more party people, Madi and Tori. Here's Madi hanging out with the Martineau tagteam (as Vincent gives his sis a tiss on da head):

We spent the next day recovering from the turkey by sitting around the Vincent household, ocassionally getting in a good Rockin' session on Beatles Rock Band.  Vincent probably has the most fun out of anybody--even more than Dad, who REALLY likes to rock, duuuuuude...

On Sunday, we spent the evening at the Kleins for the Annual Cheesybread and Potato Soup meal/Cookie decorating.  It was lots of fun, as seen in the pictures below.


Vincent wasn't the only person who had fun opening presents:

 

Our sister/sister-in-law modeling their presents:

And Drew, modeling his:

And all of us, modeling... or something? (If you look close, some of those gifts are from the San Diego Zoo--Elephant pooh items! A Christmas ornament, notepad, and picture frame--obvious products to create with processed Elephant droppings! Drew's face is about right...)

That one was partly inspired by this one, taken Christmases '07:

Good times.

And we'll finish up with just a few other pictures.

Hope everyone enjoys their Holiday Season, and remembers the reason, and I also hope to keep up one of my resolutions: to be a better, more reliable blogger!

Zeke, waiting for crumbs/icing to fall, and probably for everyone to leave: