Snowy Saturday

 A day of snow. Light powder, about an inch before settling.

Local Road Trip

Yesterday I had dinner with Sarah & Jon, and Jehn was there too. Before I got there, I made stops at the lake (which had UN-frozen due to all of the rain and warmer weather, though it was windy and 32 degrees when I got there), and Dad & Ma's, where I dropped off a case of Aquafina water, and left with bacon and a Hannaford gift card.

At Sarah & Jon's we had steak, baked mac & cheese, fresh bread and Wachusett Larry IPA beer (a decent, if unremarkable offering from a longtime favorite brewery). We played a dominos game called "Mexican something" that Jason & Stacie got them hooked on, and we got through all 13 rounds, plus the "Kenny's Rules" version I came up with (much faster, and far more satisfying - haha). I was there until 12:30 am or so. It was a fun day and night all around...

New Year's Eve

A lack of funds, enthusiasm and people who were free to hang out with all left me with spending New Year's Eve home alone, which was perfectly fine with me this year.

Dinner was 2 messy but amazing cheeseburgers from Omaha Steaks (a last-minute Christmas gift from Dad & Ma - I still have 18 patties left). I made them in the small frying pans, and then put them on a toasted slice of multigrain bread. One had: American cheese both above and below the beef, then tomatoes, and half of a sandwich roll with mustard on top. The other had: beef, cheddar cheese, pickles, and the other half of the sandwich roll with mustard. They were SO good! However, going forward I am going to learn how to cook them in the oven to avoid the extensive grease cleanup, post-cooking. 

I spent the late evening up to and beyond midnight with the last beer of the year, a mediocre one called "Slippery When Wet IPA" from Tripping Animals Brewery in Doral, FL. It had two hops I am not familiar with, Lotus and Trident. The beer wasn't good or bad, merely boring. The logo artwork is amazing though! It definitely made me choose it.

Also, I spent the time listening to the following music to end 2024:

• Beach House - "7"
• Lush - "Blind Spot" EP
• Tchami - "Revelations" EP
• TWICE - "With YOU*th" EP

All very good stuff! Especially the first and last on the list.

Christmas Day

For some reason I was up at 7:00 am, and so I got out of bed at 7:30. A nice lazy day with several episodes of the K-Drama "Frankly Speaking", some NFL, and a lot of online games. Breakfast was a bagel with strawberry jam and some of the new Ethiopian coffee beans. Lunch was leftover pepperoni & white cheddar. Dinner can be seen below. A nice quiet day.

Boneless pork w/soy sauce,
the good ramen with seafood & veggie add-ins,
a cucumber and ice tea.

Christmas Eve Evening

At 4:30 I left for Dad & Ma's for the family gathering, and everyone was there except for Jackie (who had to work); and Judy & Rich came too. 

Ma and Sarah cooked/prepared plates of cheese, meats and crackers and stuff, plus meatballs and dinner rolls. There were various pastries and candies for dessert, and coffee was available as well.

Drew loved the Celtics Funko Pop. Jared, Hayden & Audrey thought the electronic handwarmers were great. The twins loved the tapioca pearls and boba straws (make it yourself!), and Celia was happy with the fancy chopsticks. Ma liked her 3 gifts (wooden thumb tacks, Kopiko candy and a $25 gc to B&N), and Dad got a good laugh out of the potato stress balls. And I found out later that Jackie was pleased with the pom-pom topped Patriots winter hat.

Kevin's family got me a big tub of coffee, chocolates and a Mega Millions ticket.

Sarah's family got me a very fancy art pen & pencil set with a heavy stock paper pad and a leather carry case.

Dad & Ma got me a $100 bill, 2 sci-fi short story collections (Tom Jolly), a pair of green Vans, some Lindor chocolate balls, and a 4-bag sampler of the world's coffees from Nuts.com.

I drove Kevin & Drew home at 7:00 pm, and deposited the $100 bill at the ATM (haha). I went back and wound up staying until around 8:30, and was the last to leave. Plus I got leftovers! Such a fun night.

Christmas Eve Morning

Christmas Eve Morning: I got up at 10:30 and found out there had been some snow. I hung out with Chumble for the day until leaving for my parents' house and the family Christmas festivities at 4:30.

Powder

It was a sunny cold morning, and then it turned to a slow and steady powdery snowfall over the rest of the day. We got about an inch as of 10:00 pm, and it's supposed to stop soon.

I was too lazy to do anything except watch tv all day, though in the evening I finished wrapping the rest of the Christmas gifts, and also paid a few bills online.

...oh, and I got Domino's (haha).

Pan pizza with hamburger and shredded cheddar cheese.