Nov / Dec 2015

The rest of November was rather uneventful. We started bathroom renovations that lasted until Christmas.  In fact, a couple of things remain undone (2nd coat of paint, hanging of a mirrored cabinet).

We had an early Thanksgiving that was quite enjoyable as always.  11 of us and a moderately sized turkey - the leftovers didn't even last a full week (i.e. I wanted more turkey cranberry sandwiches!)

ORBJ's birthday was on December 1. We celebrated with dinner at a new gourmet burger restaurant, which was pretty tasty (and much better than last year's option, Eddie Rockets aka Johnny Rockets).

For her party, ORBJ had a cooking party, where someone came over and baked pizzas and cupcakes with the girls (although a couple of them did very little cooking, so to speak).  It seemed to go over quite well, which is what really mattered.

ORBJ's cake, make by LBJ of course

Note the penguin that just dove in the blue water - very impressive (in case the picture does not do it justice).

ORBJ and her biggest present (from PL and UM)

The chaos of ORBJ's party

Then, before we knew it, Christmas was upon us.  We managed to get all the presents sorted with a couple of days to spare (and no unshipped items like last year's Amazon / An Post debacle).  I finished grading in time to share a whiskey with Joe Elliott from Def Leppard.  Ok, we were in the same whiskey bar, and he was about 10 feet away from me.  I couldn't figure who he was, as the years have not been especially kind to me (perhaps not surprisingly).  I didn't tell him that I saw him in concert in 1988 in Iowa - let's face it, he'd probably like to forget that he performed a concert in Iowa in 1988!

Ah, Christmas.  It was nice although I would have enjoyed seeing my family.  Still, no travel or jet lag, presents and dinner in my own house (with a closely guarded cat who did not get any turkey, not due to a lack of effort).  LBJ's dad brought a great selection of wines (there were leftovers).

The girls in their new outfits from Nana and Papa

The only downside to the holidays was the weather - lots of wind and rain.  Very little time for FABJ to get out and ride the new bike she got for her birthday.