Ahh, the Annual Office Christmas Party!

Ours was pretty awesome! We all met at 6 pm at Kurama's, Shelly and I driving separately. I got there a little before her and waited in the parking lot, igniting rumors inside, where the rest of my coworkers awaited.

Kurama's is just like Kanki's and Sakura's, apparently, and Shelly and I thoroughly enjoyed the food.

If you weren't there, though, there's not much to tell, I guess. You just had to be there on this one.

But there's nothing saying you all can't see pictures, of course! Here's one of Shelly and I:

And here's one of the teller staff:

Randy, top left, drew my name for Secret Santa, buying me Iron Man on DVD. I drew Justin (bottom right), so I bought him Grey Goose (hey, I only do what the card tells me!).

And here's me with my Chilean co-worker, Carola (pronounced CAR-O-LA, best said in high pitch and at extremely high volume!):

And last but not least, here's supervisor Denise with husband Tony, along with afore-mentioned Car-o-la:And I guess that's about it! Hope everyone else had as good a time at their's as I did! (Although it was a bit awkward for a while there as everyone rehashed my various practical jokes around the table; come on, people, there's a time and place for everything!) ;)

Oh, Alright!

Dear Lord, you people are needy! Sure, I have to fix uncooperative, infuriating popcorn ceilings, work on annoyingly unfinishable half baths (so as not to earn the scorn of my forebearers, who apparently delight in the fact I haven't finished it yet), put in my forty SECU hours a week, attend to my husbandly duties (such as the recent Christmas tree-related stuff), and then maybe if I'm lucky recreate a little- but don't worry, the blog comes first!

Before we rehash the Thanksgiving holiday, a few little acknowledgements.

First, a little congratulations to Newly Engaged Melissa, as we all must call her now! Apparently, sick and tired of the care-free bachelor life, Mark proposed! Obviously he has no idea of the viscous cross-examinations in store for him, being married to a newly-minted lawyer ("Did you pay the cell phone bill this month, honey?" "Of course!" "Well, then perhaps you'd like to explain why my phone just got cut off... no? Care to revise your previous statement, sweetie?") Here's a completely unposed picture commemorating the event:

Mark, buddy... if you really paid for that thing with cash out of pocket, as the picture suggests... I hate you just a little bit...

In other news, Nancy Drew... no that's not quite right. Ah yes, old roommate Nancy Dayton, of Shelly/Chris wedding "I Might Even Fly" fame, recently got back in touch with us! Somewhat appropriately, this was initiated via a comment on my blog! Anyway, in her follow-up letter, in an event that encouraged and uplifted both of us, she reported how she won her newest boyfriend to Christ- who had previously been an atheist. Nancy, congratulations- you're a great example to all of us! If you're reading this, thanks for getting back in touch, and thanks for the good news!

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Dad's recent conquest of the New Jersey Hazmat team! Dad really dropped the bomb on them (almost literally) when, in helping clean out Grandpop's house, he brought them 20 gallons of ... (drum roll, please!)... DDT! Yes, that's right! Stored thirty years in Grandpop's garage, Dad and Uncle Dave brought the decades-old, highly illegal substance to the Red Bank hazmat team's attention! Judging from his story, they probably couldn't have been much more surprised if he'd shown up with a couple of drums of mustard gas! Ah, how simple life must have been in the 60's, when you could rid your house of termites and poison the entire county watershed in the process!

lright, that's current events... all except for the second annual six-egg Christmas omelet Shelly and I made on Friday! As you might remember, we started that tradition last year when we accidentally dropped a carton of eggs on the way up the stairs with the Christmas tree! Anyway, here's a picture of the monstrosity:

So, now on to Thanksgiving. Or, back to Thanksgiving. However you want to put it.

After a bruising fight to earn off Wednesday (see earlier post), Shelly and I started our 6 AM road trip to Maryland on schedule... at 7:45. Yep, I consider it on schedule, being as there was a woman involved. I'm anticipating new bruises once Shelly reads that last line. Anyway, we had no trouble in the traffic spots where we thought we would, but plenty of trouble in spots we thought would be fine. Here's a few pictures of me, coping nicely with the annoyance:

After the second thirty minute jam in Richmond, I let Shelly drive the rest of the way. Of course, there were no more problems. Such as life.

As fate would have it, we Wednesday we celebrated my Grandpop's 93rd birthday. For dinner, since it was also close to Chris and Julia's birthdays, we met the Prince clan at Chick-fil-A for dinner and presents. Christopher apparently has a thing for cows, as evidenced here... also, here's Grandpop opening presents:

The next day, Thanksgiving, was great, despite being Turducken-less for the third straight year. No amount of lobbying on the subject can sway either mom or aunt Tickie. Anyway, after a scrumptious Thanksgiving meal...

Shelly and I broke out our Wii! Thinking that perhaps other members of our family might enjoy it, we'd brought it up from NC. We were right- we had everyone from eight year old Christopher to 93 year old Grandpop playing it (with Miis to represent each of them). After dinner, though, the Sudnick twins monopolized the game, with Steve no doubt thinking he could mimick his 300 Intellivision bowling score! For his part, Scott also tried to reenact his 1984 Intellivision boxing victory over me- I'm happy to say that this travesty was finally avenged, 24 years later.

Then Black Friday came, with me waking up to an empty bed (and later discovering an empty checking account). Shelly got a nice, early start, hitting Kohl's and Target at 6 AM. She managed to avoid the worst of the day's events, such as the temp in New York who got trampled at a Walmart, or the two guys who shot each other at a Toys R Us in California.

With tragedy avoided, the two of us went out to Damon's to have lunch with Maryland friends Jen and Tim! (Jen, incidentally, thanks for not piling on my wife and mother's comments, hectoring me regarding my lack of posting). We have a good lunch, then walked around the Crofton shopping center a little bit, seeing an over-abundance of ducks and geese and visiting an incredibly foul-smelling Game Stop that chased my three companions out in short order.

Oh, Jen- that reminds me. Shelly and I are planning on joining you and Tim in Vegas this spring, but we're probably not going to go on any of the other trips to the Grand Canyon or to Utah. Sorry about not getting back to you sooner!

With malodorous trips to electronic stores encompassing much of Friday, that just left us Saturday to fill, which apparently involved some large, child-related party, that I'm now too tired to describe at any length (it's been two hours since I've started this blog, thanks to Shelly seeing me at the computer and dropping a huge stack of bills on the desk for me to pay! It's almost as if she's trying to stop me from blogging... :)) Anyway, here's some pictures of that particular event:

Ok, guys, that's enough for tonight. Although, since I happened to catch Fight Club on TV this afternoon, and then a follow-up documentary about fight clubs that exist in Silicon Valley (helping office-bound men get out aggression), I've got half a mind to start one up for guys at SECU. Does anyone out there think that's a good idea? I want other opinions, 'cause Shelly's not really being all that supportive about my plan...

Ok, Goodnight....

Thanksgiving Update Coming Soon!

Sorry if I'm a bit behind, but I'll be posting pictures and a summary of the recently completed Thanksgiving weekend soon. Bear with me a little longer!