It started off just fine. Jamie had stayed over after New Years Day and we spent the bulk of Monday, January 2, 2012, together since I was off work. We had a nice lunch of gourmet burgers at Red Robin and then went over to the Regal to see Hugo in 3-D. I liked it quite a bit, but she didn’t care for it. She headed back to her parents house in Cincinnati late that afternoon.

Then it was back to work and the life routine as normal. On Thursday, January 5, I met Mom for lunch at Chick-fil-A and then met Ashleigh and Silas for dinner at E.O. Burgers at the Greene. Chris was still in town from the holidays and he stopped by that night for a visit and we explored my iTunes library and watched most of Block-Heads.

Silas-boy ready for his burgers

On second thought, he can’t wait for the burgers. He goes right for our number.

Friday, January 6, saw the departure of the Administrative Support Person in our department at work. Willie had been with the company for nearly 35 years. We had an array of snacks to celebrate her retirement and we went out for a nice lunch at O’Charley’s. She was a very nice lady and I’ll miss having her around.

Saying farewell to Willie

Our department photo: Willie, Garry, Debbie, me, Mel, Shane, Josh, and Roger

Willie’s retirement lunch at O’Charley’s

That evening, I made a welcome return to Findlay to spend the weekend with Jamie. We grabbed some Chipotle for dinner that night and watched High School U.S.A. at her apartment. On Saturday the 7th, we got some breakfast and hot drinks at Tim Horton’s and then spend a few hours at her office at the college. It was a relaxing afternoon as she did some work for school and I read Wild at Heart and helped her with her lesson plan. We had a nice Chinese dinner at the Royal Buffet, and then had a bit of a Friends marathon back at her place.

On Sunday, we went to church at Unity for another hugely rousing service. After church, we went back to the apartment and ordered a delicious Joey Fratello’s pizza and continued watching Friends. I had really enjoyed a great weekend, but clearly there was something indefinable that was wrong again. But we pressed on.

As has become the standard for January, something at the house ‘broke’ once again. On Monday the 9th, I came home from work to find no heat in the house. Thank goodness for that mild weather I spoke of. The next morning, I had Airtron come and fix it for a mere $232 to replace the hot surface ignitor.

The next weekend saw the first snow and almost nixed the plans that Jamie and I had for the weekend, but in the end I got to spend even more time with her than planned as she came down on Saturday evening. I had lunch with Dean at Chick-fil-A that afternoon and showed him a photo book that I had created for Jamie on Snapfish. I met Jamie at my house and we perused the book – her ‘surprise’ and she loved it. We had a fun evening shopping at Toys ‘R’ Us, where we picked up a birthday gift for Megan and a puzzle for ourselves. We had a very nice time over dinner and drinks at The Pub and then went back to my house to work on the puzzle by and watch Friends.

The puzzle that we never solved

On Sunday, January 15, Megan turned three years old. Mom and Bob picked up Jamie and me in their new van and we headed to Westerville for her big party. We had pizza, snacks, soda, and cake with all of Megan’s grandparents, as well as Aaron’s sister Maura and her husband Micah, and their kids Jackson, Ethan, and Clara. Several of Denise’s friends with kids who were Megan’s age stopped by to visit as well.

Megan got a slew of gifts, which made the whole affair look like Christmas for her. I gave her an electronic drum set which she seemed to like quite well. We left in the late afternoon and Mom & Bob dropped Jamie and me off at my place. We continued working on our puzzle and watched the movie Terri, which Jamie had rented and brought over.

Megan and the endless parade of loot

Diggin’ in

Adam and Auggie did everything possible to volunteer their assistance at opening gifts

Megan and the electronic drum kit I gave her

Megan tries on one of the many princess dresses that she received

Playing with the drum kit…

…and offering me a turn

Let’s try this thing together!

Megan’s cake. Pink was her choice.

Woofing the candles. Eventually she got ‘em.

Jamie works off the pizza and cake with some jump roping in the living room

Candid cuteness

One way to skin a cat

The last time I saw Jamie in person was the following Monday morning when whe left to head back to Findaly. But we did have a ‘Skype’ date on Wednesday, January 18. We ate popcorn and simultaniously watched Back to the Future Part 2.

The snows came again on Thursday, January 19. Ashleigh and Silas met me that evening at BW3′s and for the first time of the year, the roads actually got a little bit bad. We had a nice meal of boneless chicken wings and Silas was naturally as cute as ever.

Shovel in them morsels!

Hi

Pretty ones

This boy can stand with the best of them

My boy

I spend that following weekend alone watching lots and lots of movies and looking at the snow outside. I didn’t talk to Jamie until Sunday evening at which time we decided to break-up again. Sigh. Enough of that.

I was mopey for most of the week continuing on with some movie watching – which during the month included the Oscar nominees of 1982 and 1997, and Smallville. Earlier in the month I had been watching some Wonder Years and WKRP in Cincinnati. I also discovered Pinterest online this month and added KISS, Feist, and Blue October to my music listening agenda.

On Thursday, January 26, I met Mom at Chick-fil-A. On Friday, I had drinks with Shelly at BJ’s after work. And on Saturday, Ashleigh and Silas came over and we ordered Donato’s pizza and watched 30 Rock. With friends and family such at these people, I have quickly affirmed that life is indeed good and regardless of whether Janaury was good, bad, or simply mild, I’m going to make the most of this year… just like always before.

2012 will continue in February…

Let’s take, for example, the year 2011 - the one that just ended – which I am going to refer to as the Book of 2011. Because like a good giant scrapbook, bursting at the seams with memories, mementos, photographs, and souvenirs, my book (as chronicled on this site) shares these same characteristics.

When I started the book, I had only vague ideas as to what it would hold. I knew the basic plot, but I didn’t skip ahead to the ending to see what would happen. I didn’t know what my Grandson would look like (or even for sure what his name would be). I didn’t know that my Grandpa Murphy would not make it out of the year. I didn’t know that I’d meet a girl named Jamie and be dating her for most of the year and that we would have some great adventures together. I didn’t know with which celebrities I’d get a chance to rub elbows. And although I had inklings as to what travels I’d be taking, I didn’t know that some would be cancelled (remember the Egypt trip that never was?), or that others would be added as substitutes. Nor did I have any idea of what kinds of spectacular memories I’d be making during these travels.  

I had no clue that visiting restaurants from the TV show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives would become a new fun obsession. And surely there was no way of knowing that my car would be getting sideswiped by a semi. There was music that I hadn’t yet heard, movies and TV shows that I hadn’t yet seen, books that I hadn’t yet read, all mine for the taking throughout 2011.

The point of all of this? We stand on the threshold of excitement and adventure each and every day of our lives. It comes slowly sometimes, so it doesn’t feel all that thrilling, but taken as a collective for an entire year, it is utterly stunning to realize what experiences I have lived through during the Book of 2011. As long as my heart keeps beating and the world keeps turning – and the doomsday prophecies never come true – I’m just going to keep adding these amazing, incredible books to the life-shelf. Because although I don’t know what they are, or when they’ll happen, each new book via each successive year is always bristling with new treasures and memories. I’m anxious to get this one started in similar fashion to the previous years… with a couple of little caveats.

For the past five years, I have faithfully made every single posting to this website that I committed to do. At times (more than I’d like to count) I’ve fallen behind. This leads to some self-imposed stress in getting caught up. Lots of times this is due to travel, but mostly it just happens when I don’t feel like writing or working on it. So in the spirit of enjoying life, I’m lifting the posting schedule that I’ve maintained all of these years. Instead of assigning postings to specific days, the date will now reflect the day that it is actually posted – and naturally postings will come pouring out in varied frequencies, based on when and about what I am moved to write.

Secondly, this website has often driven my behavior and activities in that I’d often do things just so I could post the event once the activity is complete. In a way, this can be a good thing. Scavenger hunt road trips are a blast and often quite rewarding – with the ultimate goal typically being to post the pictures of people, places, and things that I encounter. However, this can sometimes lead to my life being a little too ‘prescribed’ and leaving not enough time to just ‘live in the moment.’ It will take a conscious effort, but this is something I’m going to try to improve upon as well.

As Norman Bates said so well, “A hobby is supposed to pass the time, not fill it.” He meant it in a different way of course, but still I’m going to heed this passage. Great. Now I’m taking advice from a a psycho.

So…

I worked my way toward ending 2011 with a couple of fun post-Christmas gatherings during the year’s last few days. On Thursday, December 29, Ashleigh, Silas, and I went out to eat at Bob Evans in Fairborn.

On Friday the 30th, we got off from work at 3pm. I wasn’t originally going to do anything this night, as Jamie was busy with friends. But not long after I had driven home from Cincinnati, she called me and said that her friend Flora has invited us to go out to eat with her and her husband Tim. So I turned around and went back to the Cincy area to meet them for dinner. We tried Longhorn, but it was incredibly crowded, so we ended up with some incredible pizza from Dewey’s. It was a fun evening.

My last day in 2011 was spent mostly with Jamie as well. I went over to her parents’ place in the mid-afternoon. We put together her new Karaoke machine that she had gotten for Christmas. The CD that came with the system was admittedly week (with tunes like London Bridge), but we soon found that we could plug in my iPod and sing along with the music. This kept us entertained for hours.

Jamie delightedly utilizes the new Karaoke machine

Singing to the iPod. And not well.

Jamie’s Mom made us a great dinner of beef stew and potatoes, and I assisted with cooking some filet mignon. After dinner, we browsed the work that they had been doing in the basement, ripping stickers off of containers as we went along. We then went to work making cake igloos as the evening project. Jamie had done this on New Years Eve the prior year, and I was happy to be included on the new ritual this time around.

New Years Eve craftiness

Our finished igloo cakes

We didn’t watch the much of the Times Square madness up until the final minute before the year changed. Jamie and I had to make a last minute dash up to United Dairy Farmers to pick up a bottle of champagne, after we realized the one that her Mom had had around for years was melting through the cork. At midnight, we kissed and toasted 2012.

Toasting 2012 a few minutes after the ball dropped

I stayed there until about 2:30am and then drove to my Mom’s house to spend the night. The next morning I got up and went back to Jamie’s parents to pick her up a little after 10am. We headed over to her friends David & Emily’s house to have some morning bagels and good conversation for a couple of hours. We gave them Jamie’s igloo, and Emily gave me some air freshener and a sweatshirt. Random, but warm and fun.

We stopped back at Jamie’s so she could get her car and then we drove separately to Bev & Ed’s house for the Murphy family New Year gathering. We got there around 2pm, bringing along my igloo from the night before. The turnout was a bit bigger for this New Years than it typically is. In attendance were: Diana & Tom, Cathy, Mom & Bob, Jamie & me, Bev & Ed, Susan & Charles and Charley and Sam, Chris & Sarah (briefly) and Livi, Karen & Joe and Andrew, Abby, and Allie, Jim & Jan and Nikki and Eric, Darlene & Bob, Brittney & Doug, Jacob, and Zac.

Bev had a great spread of food which included both sauerkraut and pork and BBQ pork – plus macaroni & cheese, and tons of snacks, cheeses, desserts, and soda. We played a bit of charades downstairs as well as a game where we wrote some facts about us (thankful for, wishes, and fears), and then took turns guessing who had written each self-description. Before Jim and his family took off, I made sure to get my annual Murphy sibling photo.

Darlene, Jim, Bev, Diana, and Mom in the sixth annual New Years Day sibling portrait

Back upstairs at the kitchen table, a group of us played Farkle (Bev won) and a game of Trivial Pursuit. Despite the fact that Chris, Jamie, and I were playing from the Genus edition while everyone else used the TV addition, we still ended up the victors.

The Trivial Pursuit competition

To the victors go the drinks

Jamie and I stayed until early evening, eating dinner from the spread as well. When we got back to my house, we watched Happy Gilmore as we nodded off and finished off our first day of the New Year.

A fond welcome to you, 2012. I’m anxious to see what you bring to the table.

2012 will continue with the further exploits of January…

Christmas 2011 was back in line with Christmas traditions of Murphy yore. For the first time since 2007, we were returning our family gathering to Christmas Day itself. It made for an incredibly full and fulfilling day, although in the end, I wondered if this much activity and fun was best spread out over more than one day after all! But no matter, it was what it was. And it was a blast from start to finish. I had spent the night at Denise and Aaron’s house, so this was where my Christmas morning started.

Sleeping downstairs, I had heard the rustle above coming from Adam at about 7am. I had slept long enough so I made my way up to make sure I didn’t miss any of the kids’ gift opening activities. Aaron was already up, sitting exactly where he was the night before when I retired to bed. I’m still not entirely convinced that he didn’t sit there all night long. This year for the first time, Adam was more than cognizant of the fact that Santa Claus had brought more presents and left them under the tree and had eaten the Christmas cookies. He excitedly yelled out to me, “Uncle Brad, today is December 25th!” I told him that this date sounded familiar and asked if it has his birthday. He answered, “No! It’s Jesus’ birthday!”

Megan wasn’t yet up, so Adam remained patient, showing me how he played Angry Birds on Aaron’s iPad. Apparently Santa had also loaded a new version of the game and added a couple of ‘hidden Golden Eggs’ to the menu. Whatever. It kept him quiet.

Eventually, Denise, Megan, and Mom & Bob made their appearances. Eventually we were all ready to witness another gnashing, tearing, and clawing of the Christmas gifts. Adam played Santa mostly, giving the gifts to Megan, who parked herself on the fireplace ledge to open them. She would politely thank Adam each time he brought over a gift.

The rhetoric that came out of their mouths was mostly hilarious. At one point I couldn’t stop laughing when Adam proudly declared after opening a gift: “Look Mom! Just in time for my day off. Just kidding!” The laughs compounded when Megan went running across the room with her newest gift: “Look Mommy!” – CRUNCH – as she stepped squarely on an unopened doll’s plastic case.

Megan and Adam are poised to commence operation: gift opening

Megan and Adam nearly get tangled in each other as they begin the shredding

Each of them marvel over their new items, then toss them aside

Megan’s zone

This one’s pretty good

The gift opening over, Adam is back to the Wii

Megan kicks back with the guitar that I got for her

With my favorite nephew and niece

The melee was complete in less than 30 minutes as the kids opened up all of their presents from Santa and others from their parents. I fail to see the distinction, but the kids certainly do. As tradition has dictated since 2008, Denise made her delicious French Toast casserole for breakfast – along with bacon, eggs, and juice.

Bobby and Mom dig into their eats

Ready to enjoy the fruits of Denise’s labor

But unlike the past three Christmas mornings, this time I actually did have someplace else to be that afternoon. So I gathered up my loot from the night before (forgetting my pillow accidentally) and hit the road by 9:30am. I drove back to my house to take a shower and get ready, then re-packed my car and headed to Jamie’s parents’ house, chatting with Bob and sending Christmas greetings his way.

I got there a little bit after 1pm and we had a nice time looking over her gifts (including a swell Karaoke machine that wasn’t yet put together), chatting with her Mom, and snacking on cookies. I brought her Mom a candle and she gave me two root beer float mugs – which could be used interchangeably as beer mugs.

Jamie and I left there, driving separately, at about 3:45pm – for the third leg of the day’s Christmas celebration. As I said, it was nice to return to the Murphy gathering on Christmas Day, but the location was all-new for us. This gathering was held at the home of my cousin Debby and her husband Mike. In all of the years of Christmas gatherings, this was the first time it wasn’t held in either the home of Grandma & Grandpa or one of their kids.

But never fear, Debby had the absolute perfect venue for it: a very spacious and lovely home in Bellbrook. I was immediately impressed with it and quickly felt right at home. As usual, the food selection was amazing and included ham and turkey and usual array of side items and desserts. I brought along a smattering of cheese dips and pretzels, and the leftover soda from the night before.

Quite a spread. Like I need all this.

Denise enjoys Mom’s standard devouring pose

In attendance at the gathering were: Diana & Tom, Cathy, Lori & Shane and Abbey and Elise, Debby & Mike and Bradley and Tyler, Dan & Natalie and Tori, Mom & Bob, Jamie & me and Ashleigh, Briana, and Silas, Denise & Aaron and Adam and Megan, Bev & Ed, Susan & Charles and Charley and Sammy, Chris & Sarah and Livi, Jim & Jan and Nikki and Eric. Conspicuously absent were Karen’s family (who alternate Christmas Day with Joe’s family every other year) and Darlene’s entire family. Darlene and Bob had chosen to spend Christmas in Key West, Florida, but why none of their kids came I’m not sure.

As we’ve done for many years now, there was a White Elephant gift exchange. I brought along a giant bean bag ottoman that I found at Macy’s for $5.00 (regular price $60) and Jamie brought along a DVD of The Patriot. Jamie ended up with the DVD Due Date and I got a huge box of Fingers candy (both of which incidentally were brought by Chris and Sarah). Ashleigh, Briana, and Silas didn’t arrive until after the gift exchange, having spent the bulk at the day at her other Nana’s house.

Tyler and Debby

He’s a good kid for the camera, and has some great pale blue eyes

The Murphys – ready to introduce Eric to Farkle

Denise and Tom as usual are connected at the hip

Colorado Livi, now visiting her Ohio roots

Bev and Abbey, who is clearly ready to konk out

Sisters share a moment

When kids cry on Christmas, I usually go ahead and post it for the world to see

Lori is thrilled with her candles from the White Elephant gift exchange. Shane is not.

I’m not sure if Adam was dressed like Christmas or Freddy Krueger. Denise looks unsure.

Briana, Ashleigh, and little Silas show up for the festivities

Mom requests a picture with Silas and he is happy to oblige

Megan and Adam attempt to construct the Tower of Babel

Jamie sees Silas for the first time in several months. He’s considerably bigger.

Jamie and I spent a lot of our time talking to Chris and Sarah and hanging out in the basement with the kids, where we played drums and sang in the ‘music studio’. The studio was adjacent to the Dance Club that Abbey, Elise, and Bradley had set up, complete with strobe lights and the occasional dance song found on the radio. So Jamie and I had no choice but to participate in their disorganized fun.

Jamie and I share our first Christmas together

Pretty and purple everywhere

The gang’s all here

The entire Claude Clan Crew

Not sure if everyone is watching TV or the Silas feeding

As Adam would say: “he sleepin”

Mom, Diana, Mike, Debby, Bev, and Denise enjoy the seasonal game of “Oh Hell”

Taking my Silas time as it comes

Jamie and Megan provide the beat

Megan also lends some vocal dexterity

Briana takes Silas for a dance

Boogie in the basement. Or perhaps Mom is getting sick and Debby is keeping Tyler out of vomit range.

Panic on the streets of Bellbrook

Since this was our first year without Grandpa Murphy, many of us wore a Merry Frickin’ Christmas sweatshirt in his honor. I didn’t actually wear mine throughout the evening, but donned it when the time was appropriate for pictures. Jim did the honors of wearing the bow on his head. Clearly and obviously, he was sorely missed.

Jim not only sports the Merry Frickin’ Christmas sweatshirt, but assumes Grandpa’s role as head-bow-wearer

The Frickin’ sweatshirt assemblage

 The Frickin’ siblings

Overall, it was another terrific Murphy family Christmas gathering. Jamie and I stayed until about 9pm (which was shortly after Megan decided to remove all of her clothes) and then headed back to my house, grabbing a couple of Bud Light Limes along the way to put in the new mugs. We then exchanged our gifts. She gave me a great DVD that simulates a fireplace on the TV and a comfortable t-shirt from the University of Findlay. I gave her a necklace, season one of Outsourced, and some CDs from Madness, Psychedelic Furs, and Men Without Hats. We snacked on our cheeses, cookies, and beer and watched a couple episodes of Outsourced until we fell asleep, leaving behind my 41st Christmas on earth.

And in the end… the Bob and Tom you make is equal to the amount of Bob and Tom you can take

I had Monday off following the holiday and Jamie and I spent it together with a McDonald’s breakfast at home, and watching the premiere episode of Smallville, Due Date, and Chalk. I also made her Ramen for the first time. It was another grand day.

Life will hopefully continue in 2012…

December 24th fell on a Saturday this year. This was nice at it meant a half-day of work the day before and the Monday following Christmas off. Obviously being a Saturday, our office was closed on Christmas Eve.

Jamie and I got up that morning and had a nice breakfast at Waffle House. I made sure to remember that our waitress was working on Christmas Eve. Then we went back home and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. Jamie headed out around 1pm that afternoon, and I began to get together the gifts, food, and clothes I’d be bringing to Westerville for our family Christmas celebration at Denise and Aaron’s house. I was in charge of the bread, buns, soda, and I brought along some extra Jarlsberg cheese dip and buffalo pretzels.

I headed up to Westerville, chatting with my friend Dean along the way, and arrived a little before 5pm. Mom & Bob had been there since the morning, and my Dad & Vicki and Bill & Dottie had already arrived. Ashleigh and Silas weren’t far behind me. And Briana, although late, would eventually make her way there.

The food spread was absolutely incredible… probably the grandest we’ve ever had on Christmas Eve. I regretted that I only had one stomach to give to the cause (although I’m certain I had more room in there than last year). We had ham, turkey, green beans, potatoes, shrimp, meatballs, Oriental salad, homemade Chex mix, cheese and crackers, chips, dips, banana bread, pumpkin roll, pies, cookies, and soda. There was a ridiculous number of choices, and everything was amazing. Denise and Mom did an excellent job of preparing everything.

The food frenzy begins

A portion of the dessert sector

Mom is eager to begin some ham chewing

Silas is content with some book chewing

The happy boy’s first Christmas

Mom and Dad do some investigation of their cameras

All the grandkids, both the great and the small

Ashleigh and Silas, radiant souls

We quickly segued from the dinner portion of the evening into the gift shredding portion which began promptly at 6:19pm. Briana showed up (following a diaper-picking-up mishap at Meijer) just as we were about to start, so she caught up on food for the first segment. Adam, with the assistance of the lovely Megan, acted as the gift distributor, stopping to open his own gifts whenever possible. Silas was really good while the gifts were being open. For most of it, he parked himself in the middle of the living room floor and reached for anything he could grab and put in his mouth. I did also learn from Ashleigh that Silas can stand on his own while holding on to the couch, and I witnessed him doing such.

Adam and Megan survey the loot

The elf hats make them worthy of handing out gifts

Megan’s first gift was the pink Barbie Jam with Me Rock Star Guitar that I got for her. Somehow the wrapping paper had gotten ‘accidentally’ torn by her while we were all eating, so she ran into the room to announce that she could see the Barbie guitar under the paper. This seemed to be one of her biggest highlights, and she was seen throughout the evening ‘jamming’ on it.

Megan finishes the job she had already begun: opening the Barbie guitar

Here is what I gave: To Mom & Bob: mug rack, $50 Olive Garden gift card. To Dad & Vicki: Laurel and Hardy DVD set, $25 Olive Garden gift card. To Denise: Laurel and Hardy DVD set, Bridesmaids DVD. To Aaron: Clone Wars Season 3 Blu-Ray (from Mom and me). To Ashleigh: Sewing machine, $25 Kroger gift card. To Briana: $50. To Adam: Brilliant Creations Advance Notebook, Little Rascals Vol.7 DVD, Wii Monster Truck – Path of Destruction game with wheel. To Megan: Barbie Jam with Me Rock Star Guitar, Baby Belle doll. To Silas: I opened a bank account for him with $100, rattle, Fisher Price Rumble and Learn Driver. And I brought along my newsletters for Denise, Ashleigh, and Briana.

Here is what I got: From Mom: Nightmare Before Christmas pajama pants and t-shirt, $25 Chick-fil-A gift card, Five Generations picture frame, two bottles of lotion, Community season one DVDs, picture calendar from Snapfish. From Dad: Time: 75 Years book, Life: Legends book, mousepad with picture of Silas on it, Bob Newhart: Button Down Concert DVD, Dragnet 1968 DVD, Dragnet 25 episodes DVDs, The Lucy Show season two DVDs,  From the Ocks: Facts of Life season four DVDs, In the Line of Duty: The FBI Murders DVDs, Cheers t-shirt, Ohio State shirt. From Ashleigh: Muppet Abbey Road t-shirt. From Briana: iPod shoulder strap, ceramic pot that she made.

The Advanced Notebook that I got for Adam

Vicki shows off the cat treats that Adam and Megan got for her

Silas goes straight for the bow

Briana, in typical late teenage fashion, is just now getting her food ingested

Silas is pleased enough to just be at the center of the gift-opening frenzy

Bob receives a gift card to Lowes and is understandably jubilant

A new rattle from his Grandpa

Mom steps in for Grandpa Murphy to wear the bow this year

Silas plays with the car dashboard that I gave him

He tries to help open the gifts…

…but gets distracted by a phone call

Bill and Dottie observe the goings-on whilst simultaneously blocking the TV

I open the cool Five Generations frame from Mom

Megan adds a new cowboy hat to her ensemble and strums away

7pm: The damage is done to the living room as the gift opening winds down

Everyone hung around and socialized for quite a while. Bill and Bob became interested and possibly hooked on playing Angry Birds on Aaron’s iPad. As usual, this was initiated by Adam, who had moved on to playing some of his new Wii games. It was hard to stay away from the kitchen counter full of food, as it made good stuff on which to snack. I also waited for the ice to harden in the trays in order to enjoy some Vernor’s ginger ale at its coldest.

Mom takes a break from peddling jewelry to play some Angry Birds with Dottie

Aaron gives Silas a healthy toss

Briana thought she’d join Silas in fussing. Little did she know that I have the power to turn his frown the other way around.

Yaht and me, sharing our 22nd Christmas together

With the beautiful young ladies

Mom gets ticked off and gives Silas a wallop in the mouth

Actually this is what she was doing

Ashleigh coaxes Bill and Bob into a healthy Angry Birds competition

I think the shirt stain helps make Santa Silas too cute for words

Our sixth annual traditional family Christmas Eve portrait

Megan in her new boots, hat, and guitar strap is picture perfect by the tree

Ashleigh, Silas, and Briana  took off around 8:45. They were heading back to Kettering to stay at Stephen’s parents’ house so that Silas could have his Santa visit that morning with both of his parents. Dad & Vicki and Bill & Dottie followed them out the door. Mom & Bob and I stayed over that night. The ladies headed to bed after we all witnessed Adam and Megan trying to pose with cookies and chocolate milk for Santa Claus at around 10pm. Bob, Aaron, and I stayed up for a bit watching the addicting TV show Dumbest Stuff on Wheels. I headed down to the basement at around midnight to work my way through the toy maze and fall asleep on the futon.

Megan and Adam gingerly place Santa’s cookies onto the designated plate

Time for bed, but Adam would be up about two more hours pondering the whereabouts of his newest Monster Truck

Although it would have been better to have Jamie with me, I must say it was one of the best Christmas Eves I’ve had in a long, long time.

2011 will conclude with Christmas Day…

A parting shot, capable of warming even the coldest of hearts

But before the gathering, there was still a matter of the family get-together that would be taking place at my Mom’s house. It was the typical come-at-4, eat-at-5 affair. I ended up coming bearing bottles of soda a bit closer to 5pm than normal, as I just lost track of time a little bit at home. This promised to be a rather bittersweet holiday as it was the first one without Grandpa Murphy. In his honor we burned the candle bearing his image that was given to us by the funeral home.

Grandpa’s candle

Naturally, the food was incredible. We had turkey, ham, two varieties of green bean casserole (from Cathy), corn, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, Bev’s incredible Italian monkey bread, and tons of pies (including Darlene’s homemade pecan, cherry, and pumpkin and Sarah’s awesome salted caramel pie).

Bev tries out her amazing creation – Italian monkey bread

Mom digs into the sweet potato casserole as Bobby looks on

Ed is once again caught buttering his biscuit

The desserts. Yeah, the desserts.

I spent lots of time with Silas, who was asleep when he and Ashleigh arrived, as well as working some socializing with Chris into my hectic schedule. At one point Ashleigh fell asleep and Silas was grumpy so I had the task of entertaining him for about 45 minutes. It was pure pleasure to keep him enthralled. Eventually I did get down to the basement to play a few games of pocket billiards with Chris, after kicking the kids off of the table. It was a futile effort as I was playing like poo, so I had to submit Chris as the victor. Overall, it was terrific time and I ended staying until almost 8:30.

Debby and Tyler, now regularly wearing a safety helmet

Brittney and Doug get ready to depart for one of about 36 Thanksgiving dinners that they had to attend

Silas wakes up clad in an exceptionally accurate shirt

Joe, still reeling from the pain of recent auto accident, can’t keep awake in the face of the pain killers. Karen looks on with amusement.

Silas clearly knows something that Sarah doesn’t. It’s probably something about Chris.

Livi tries to make her Thanksgiving escape plans a reality

The games come out for a batch of the Murphy females

The men all seem enthralled with the football game. But Eric prefers pie.

Nikki and Jim after a hearty meal

The tryptophan sets in on Ashleigh

Silas makes a good case as to why exactly he needs this slender blue tube in his life

Allie and Abby couldn’t have given better smiles. I wonder what they want.

Livi joins her Tange-cousins

Adam was plenty busy with the Geico videos on YouTube… until they began to get inappropriate. Something about chicken.

Silas got a taste of pie on my finger and from then on wanted to eat my hand. No, I’m not flipping you off. Jerk.

Lackluster billiards from Abby and little Brad. We threw them off the table so that I could play even lacklusterer billiards.

Megan and Denise with some great smiles. I’m glad Denise is now able to keep her eyes open for the camera.

Sarah spent way too much time on this contraption

Silas finally gets tired of my finger and needs Mommy to feed him

In attendance at the Thanksgiving gala were: Diana & Tom, Cathy, Debby & Mike and Brad and Tyler, Mom & Bob, me, Ashleigh and Silas, Denise & Aaron and Adam and Megan, Bev & Ed, Susan & Charles and Sammy and Charley (arriving late following dinner with the Gelms), Jim & Jan and Nikki and Eric (coming late after having dinner with Jan’s family), Darlene & Bob, Brittney & Doug.

I got home right at 9pm, which was the time at which my company was scheduled to arrive. It was Ashleigh Heath’s last night in Ohio, so I consented to have a gathering of a few old high school friends at my house. Heidi and Mindy joined us, and Mindy brought along her daughter Taylor.

Mindy and Taylor arrived late however, because she was busy waiting in line at a retailer to bring me a special t-shirt. It seems that a previous discussion at one of Ashleigh’s luncheons yielded the fact that I date beautiful women despite wearing t-shirts with Elmo on them. I made it clear that I didn’t even own an Elmo shirt. They rectified that with one that also included one of my favorite phrases.

I’ll be wearing this on my next date

Also joining us for the evening was Wendy Luckenbill. She was a fellow Beavercreek ’90 graduated and our association dated all the way back to the late 1970′s when she and I attended Discovery House day care center together. You can read about some of those exploits here. Despite this fact, we really never socialized in junior high or high school, but we have been friends on Facebook since the early days in 2007 when I first joined. Wendy has had quite a successful career in Los Angeles, first working for NBC and now the Oprah Winfrey network.

With Wendy Luckenbill – of Discovery House fame

With the tunes of 1983 in the background, we had a great time over wine, beer, and cheese (Ashleigh would be furious if I didn’t mention the humboldt fog that she brought – which I’m fairly certain converts immediately to gas after entering your body) – as well as that incredible apple pie that she baked. After Heidi left, the evening started to wind down, so we watched Sixteen Candles as we flipped through the yearbook.

Ashleigh assumes the movie-watching position

Mindy, Wendy, me, and Ash – as the evening draws to an end

As far as holidays go, there wasn’t much more that I could ask for than to spend it with such a loving family, my Silas, and great friends. Well…one thing maybe.

2011 will continue…