If I go the short-post route (again) today, it’s not for a lack of material. That was a rather hectic holiday, as I suppose all are. I think I’ll start with a Wednesday recap; As it happened, I went out Monday & Tuesday also, but nothing of note. Anyway, on Wednesday Mr. Munkirs held his annual pre-Thanksgiving AKL Alumni luncheon. This has been going on for several years at various locations, and this year the spot of choice was the Brooksider. I was a bit thrown off by the transportation aspect of the event. Since we’ve gone the one-car route and I got sentenced to work downtown, little things like “lunch with the guys” have gotten increasingly difficult. This one, however, was easily solved by just taking the day off. Not only could I then simply walk to the event, I was able to get there a little early & help Munkirs with the centerpieces, name tags, etc. It turned out to be a particularly well-attended and festive event. At one point I counted twenty guys there. We had a fine Brooksider lunch, and then around 3:00 the “regulars” started filtering in so I hung around for happy hour too. A fine way to spend a day off, if perhaps rather unproductive.
Thursday was, of course, Thanksgiving. My Aunt Kathie drew the short straw this year and we all invaded her house. This actually worked out well on many counts; They have plenty of room, the house is reasonably close to us, and I didn’t have to have it at my house. Not that we were in the running anyway; I think our small menagerie of pets has taken care of that. Between Gabe’s paint-peeling gas issues, and Kane’s habit of walking around the dining room table sticking his nose in everything, it makes for a rather unappetizing meal. We’ve gotten somewhat accustomed to it, but not everyone is so acclimated to the situation. We had a fantastic meal, it’s actually making me kind of hungry just thinking about it. Turkey, mashed ‘taters, rolls, noodles, veggies, etc. My Uncle smoked up several slabs of ribs too, and they were awesome. I was well past full after my first plate but in the spirit of the season went ahead and piled on a second, a decision I would live to regret for a few hours. We left their house around 3:00, still in a state of moderate discomfort, and headed on down to the Plaza to wait for the big lighting ceremony. Our friends John & Susan had gotten a room at the Intercontinental for the night, and invited us to join them, so we didn’t have to fight the crowd. We had an awesome view from the 11th floor, I’d say that’s the only way to go. (Especially if somebody else pays for the room…) All in all, an entirely tolerable holiday.
Friday was a work-day, bah. I once again took a pass on the Black Friday sales; Second year in a row, I think that tradition is a goner for me. After work I headed to a few Dick’s locations with Mark, looking for a few stray deals, but everything was long gone. Unable to waste my money on anything, I dejectedly (not really) headed home for a quiet evening of Wii. Donette, meanwhile, went to a big highschool reunion up north with all her sisters. I will assume she had fun; She didn’t wander back home until Saturday morning so it must have been a humdinger.
Saturday, we went to the big Border War game out at Arrowhead. I had never been to one of these events, and I think I picked the right time to check it out on many fronts. Our friends David & Jill were up from Dallas for the Holiday, and they worked the game in too. We all met up at the stadium around 11:00 for a big tailgate. It was a great time; I don’t know how many people were in our “group” but it was a lot. Martins, Frerkings, Downtown Browns, Doni’s family from Houston, and a lot of David & Jill’s family and friends. It was a rather large party. The weather was nothing short of ideal. It may have been my one and only time going to that thing. No sense pushing my luck. As an added bonus (for us anyway) MU even won, and in an exciting fashion. I rarely stay interested in an entire sporting event; This one had enough back-and-forth action to keep my attention. After the game, we made a half-hearted attempt at going out with David & Jill, but I think we were out of gas. And, we were sorta looking to hang out and chat, but the bar (Kennedy’s) was deafeningly loud and crowded. We stayed as long as we could stand it, then headed back home and played Wii games for a while.
Sunday, I guess all the events caught up with us. Our plan was to head to Amigos, but by the time “one of us” got out of bed they had stopped serving breakfast so we scrapped that. I wouldn’t have left the house at all, but finally Gabe and I made the two-block hike to QT and bought a paper. Other than that brief foray into the outside world, I left the couch on precious few occasions.