Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog

December 25, 2011: Merry Christmas!

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Whew!  I’m beat.  Gonna sit back and watch the Sunday night game. If Aaron Rodgers and Ryan Grant fail to put up 50+ fantasy points for my opponent, then my Snow Monkeys win their first fantasy football league championship!  If they do put up those 50+ points, then I’ll have to rely on Roddy White to come through for me tomorrow night. But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that?

How is everyone?  Enjoying time with friends and family?

Today, we celebrated Christmas with the cousins and aunts…

What are you all up to this holiday season?

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29 responses

  1. jojo Avatar
    jojo

    Merry Christmas, Joe. Have a great holiday time with your family and give Max a hug for me.

    Reply
  2. Deni Avatar
    Deni

    Hi Joe, we’re overeating, watching the game, but happy the kids are home. 🙂 My daughter and I are off to Miami tomorrow morning to continue pigging out, off to Burger and Beer Joint tomorrow night, lotsa good Jewish deli stuff on Tuesday and then to the Guatemalan restaurant for tamales and such on Wednesday. Diet will resume immediately after! Our best regards to your family, and kisses to Max! Hey, what did Sis get you for Christmas?

    Reply
  3. Lisa R Avatar
    Lisa R

    Finishing our move. It’s so nice to have all of our own stuff back and to be out of the corporate apartment. I didn’t choose what happened to us this year, but I can see the growth we have all experienced through it. For those of you that don’t remember, we started the year with hubby recovering from surgery and being unemployed. In the middle of the year, we stored our stuff and went to CA so he could look for work which he found a month later. Then we came back across the country to here. Through everything, including my miscarriage, everyone here has been a tremendous support. I would like to say thank you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

    Have a great night!

    Reply
  4. woody woodward Avatar
    woody woodward

    Merry Christmas my friend. I am happy that you and yours are having a great time. My family and I had a fantastic time. This year, we did no visiting. We wanted to stay home this year with our boys…men really. Our boys are Autistic. Every time with the stressful holidays with visiting, really takes it’s toll on them. So, we stayed home and it was so peaceful. Now, next week with the New Year on the way, gonna be uber stressful. We are visiting my wife’s sister for a bit then going to a wedding rehearsal that will conclude with the wedding on New Years Eve. Which I will be shooting. Me. Someone who knows nothing about shooting weddings or people for that matter. I do mostly landscapes and HDR. Which, I would have loved shooting the bridge of Destiny. I still send thoughts and prayers for Maximus.

    Reply
  5. Airelle Avatar
    Airelle

    Ate way too much, sleepy, staying up to watch Dr Who on BBC, then I think my day is done, Santa was here and was treated me well. Tomorrow I clean up the mess. Merry HO Ho to all.

    Reply
  6. libkat Avatar
    libkat

    Hi, Joe,

    Merry Christmas to you and yours. So glad the Max has perked up and is having a happy holiday with his humans.

    That pasta dish in the photo looks fantastic. Baked ziti?

    I’m doing my traditional Christmas in Vegas with family. Next time you come here you need to check out Sage restaurant in the Aria hotel. Best meal I’ve had in 4 years of visiting here, with a bacon wrapped rabbit that will make you cry. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

    Reply
  7. crazymom1 Avatar
    crazymom1

    We had a nice, quiet, low-stress Christmas, since I had to work tonight and we couldn’t travel. It was lovely! Food, wine, and no need to get dressed up–just stay in your PJs! Now I’m at work, where I’m surrounded by tins of popcorn and those Danish sugar cookies. I’ve been here two hours, and I already feel kinda sick…

    Reply
  8. Nola Shingledecker Avatar
    Nola Shingledecker

    It’s been a good Christmas here in South Texas. We had 15 over today for a huge pot of vegetable beef soup and the present exchange. Everything from the youngest 4 year old grandson to my 87 year old mother in law were present and had a good time. It was a bit crazy, but joyous. Looks as if y’all were having a swell time too.

    Reply
  9. Elminster Avatar
    Elminster

    Hey Joe

    Merry Christmas to you, and everyone here.
    Not doing too much, Christmas for me has been winding down over the years. Just left with one daughter at home, and she feels the same as me ’bout Christmas. So, had a very nice, low-key, one with just the 2 of us this year. I liked it.

    Hope you and Akemi had a good one with your Mom and Sis and family.

    Elminster

    Reply
  10. DALLAS MARSHALL (@MrsTigercat) Avatar
    DALLAS MARSHALL (@MrsTigercat)

    What is the white bulldog’s name?

    Reply
  11. cherluvya Avatar
    cherluvya

    Hey Joe,

    I too have traveled to see family for the holidays. My life is spent living just north of Vegas in Utah’s desert. I’m in Oklahoma with one of my daughters and her little family. I think I have reached my quota for watching children’s programing and parties. I leave Thursday but have four more parties. Food is the focus of most of them. They live to eat here. Such huge spreads. We will be having a catfish fry at one of the ranches…that one is my favorite. The men go out in the morning to catch the fish…the women cook up a storm and we get together…eat…play games and actually talk to many of my Facebook family…but the real face to face. It’s all fun..but I am tired. There is Ashleigh 5 and Avery 2 that keep me on my toes. They are a sweet alarm clock in the morning.

    Your pictures are always fun to see…I swear the men here in Oklahoma live and breath the game. Me…not so much…so your talk of football does go right over my head.

    I will admit that I have always hated to shop. I’m loving shopping on the Internet. I have been on several shopping expeditions with my daughter. *sad face* I try so hard to be a good sport about it…but am so HAPPY it is over.

    I really would like to go to a movie this week. Hoping for maybe two. * smiles*

    Oh…and we drove around on Christmas eve to see the lights. The dog even joined us…probably not the best of ideas because ice cream was part of the plan. Ripley lived sharing with Avery…always the easy target when it comes to stealing bites of food. But…the city has an entire park turned into an amazing display. They even did the 12 days of Christmas. You listen to a radio station of Christmas songs that some of the lights are set in sync. Such a wondrous tradition.

    Best to you Joe, Little A & the pups.
    Always,
    Cheryl

    Reply
  12. Mike A. Avatar
    Mike A.

    There’s something about dog people. Finding out that people, who’s work you’ve enjoyed for years are major dog people, well that’s even awesomer. I’ve known about you, of course, Joe, and made all the better by you owning Pugs, one of my favorite breeds. But after watching a number of behind the scenes vids and seeing dog after dog after dog walking around, I started “investigating” deeper(read:watched more videos and listened to more commentary) and heard how the set was dog-friendly to the point where people would bring their dogs to work all the time to Bridge Studios. That’s just awesome sauce. I am such a firm believer in a dog’s proper socialization and what it can do for a dog’s temperment and behaviour, that when I hear about this, especially from something I’m such a fan of, it just warms my heart to no end. I know you’ve mentioned this kind of thing before, but it’s really neat to see it in practice. I have some friends that regularly train puppies to be service dogs for the deaf or blind and such a huge part of their training is just that, socialization and desensitization to multiple stimuli to avert distraction. They always turn out to be such sweethearts, I wanna take ’em all home!

    I’m sure you know by now whether or not you are the champ….. I think your safe, but thankfully you still have Roddy White to seal the deal. My Jordy Nelson came through HUGE!! I figured he’d be better than normal since Jennings is out with a knee injury, but holy cow, 32 points!?! Yes, please! That leaves me with just 6 points to make up with my Drew Brees versus his Lance Moore tomorrow night. I know typically, this is no contest, but hey, anything is possible in fantasy football and I know full well not to start counting chickens! It’s been a great Christmas, but with a great game for Brees, it could be a great birthday tomorrow! (Yes, my birthday is the 26th and yes, I’ve received PLENTY of “Christmas/birthday” combination presents. It gets old, but it’s really all I’ve ever known.)

    Good luck to the Snow Monkeys! Is Max continuing to eat better?

    -Mike A.

    Reply
  13. Ponytail Avatar
    Ponytail

    I am so stuffed! If I see any more food (before tomorrow at breakfast) I will croak. My feet hurt from standing too much yesterday and today. If I sit down to prop them up, then they just throb more! I need to quit volunteering to do all the cooking. But I feel my company should not work (too much) while here. I need to get over that and put their butts to work!

    @ Tam Dixon – I made your huggie beans! Everyone loved them! There were plenty of hugs, but I have a feeling it was more Christmas related than bean related! 🙂 But they were very good and most everyone had seconds! That is always a good sign… Thanks for the recipe! I will be making it again.

    Looks like Maximus is having a good time. Merry Christmas to you Joe and Akemi and Maximus. Merry Christmas to everyone, your familes, and friends. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

    Reply
  14. fsmn36 Avatar
    fsmn36

    Looks like a great day with your family. I don’t know if the 50 fantasy points were made or not, but I gotta admit, I was pleased with the game outcome. Last week was just horribly embarrassing for us; at least we can kick our own division’s butts. 🙂 Nonetheless, I hope the Snow Monkeys win the championship!

    As for the holiday season, I spent today with some friends, which was low key but absolutely wonderful. Tomorrow, my mother comes to visit!

    Hope Maximus is doing better!

    Reply
  15. JeffW Avatar
    JeffW

    Merry Christmas Joe and family! Looks like you all had a nice Christmas.

    For our Christmas, we stayed home. We have family spread over four states (Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and Colorado), not counting Illinois where we live, so some holidays have been spent driving around the country.

    For Christmas Eve, we spent the evening with my oldest daughter and son-in-law, and we had a wonderful meal (although my contribution of Pineapple Upside Down Cake was more of a upside down pineapple mound, but it tasted good). Christmas day was full of present openings with our other two kids and a Christmas dinner (roast Duck).

    Blending Christmas traditions (my wife’s family and my own) has always been a challenge, but it creates a new set of compromise traditions that carry on in their own right…some examples:

    In my family we would open family presents on Christmas eve and presents from outside the family on Christmas day. My wife’s family considered it sacrilege to even have presents under the tree until Christmas morning, let alone opening them (the parents would go down first on Christmas morning to “verify that Santa had come”). We compromised by opening one family present Christmas eve and then the rest on Christmas Day.

    Another was on the Christmas meal…my family would have Ham for Christmas (we always considered it “too soon” for Turkey since we’d already had one at Thanksgiving), while my wife’s family ALWAYS had Turkey for Christmas. We compromised by having Duck or Goose for Christmas day and Ham on Christmas eve.

    Items for the stockings were also an area that we needed to “blend” on. I always had tangerines, candy and nuts in my stocking, while my wife always had toiletries, toothpastes, toothbrushes, and floss (fun family 😉 !). So the compromise is a mix of fruit, candy, nuts, toothpaste, brushes, and floss…which in hindsight is probably a healthier mix.

    Anyway, Joe, that’s a long-winded way of asking: How are yours and Akemi’s Christmas traditions blending? My impression of Japanese Christmas traditions (imported as they are) are a bit scattered, so it made me a little curious.

    Reply
  16. pg15 Avatar
    pg15

    Hey everybody! Miss me? 😉

    Sorry I haven’t been keeping in touch; real life has securely sunk its sharp talons into my shoulders and have refused to let go, even after I got a restraining order for it!

    I hope everyone is well. I confess I have not been following the blog recently, but a quick scan of the last few days’ worth show that all is well…except for Maximus. I’m sorry that both him and you have to go through something like this, and I hope that whatever time Maximus has left he spends it happy and in the company of loved ones. Whatever happens at the end, we will be here to lend an Internet ear, even if some of us seem to disappear for months on end.

    Anyway, Christmas here was spent without any real fanfare, but that’s usually how we do things anyway. It’s never been a big deal. For instance, I spent the whole day watching Doctor Who and Mythbusters, and that was pretty Awesome. Heh.

    Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

    Reply
  17. Thornyrose Avatar
    Thornyrose

    Belated Merry Christmas. Got off work in the am, took the dog out for a good run. Actually went to the movies (War Horse: bit sappy but still a good movie.) Early night in bed, the earliest in years. The holiday is unfortunately marred by the Christmas Eve death of a friend, Anyways, hope everyone else’s holidays were happy and satisfying.

    Reply
  18. Maggiemayday Avatar
    Maggiemayday

    Merry Christmas! Hugs to all.

    Low key here as well, I made hubby cook for me since I’m still not standing upright well. Baked cranberry sauce (secret ingredient: Chambord), blackberry pie (berries he picked himself), and pineapple yams to share at the family dinner. Got to visit with the sailor nephew who is stationed on a sub, he was home briefly. He’s now been to places we have also visited, so his new experiences blend in with our old sea stories. So cool.

    Reply
  19. SiSi Avatar
    SiSi

    NIce Christmas with the family, but this morning I woke up with a cold! Guess that means sitting around the fire and reading for the rest of the day, and maybe the week!

    Reply
  20. Tam Dixon Avatar
    Tam Dixon

    Ponytail: I’m glad everyone liked them. It sounds like a great Christmas!

    PG15: Waves! A Dr Who Christmas sounds pretty good to me!

    Maggiemayday: I hope you feel better soon. Your hubby sounds like a good cook.

    Das: did you return the TV? How is the cat doing? It’s been a long while since I’ve seen an antifreeze case. From what I remember, we treated them with PGA in an IV drip. PGA dissolves the antifreeze crystals. All the cases I saw were canines and the mortality rate was very high.
    Bless you for taking in these feral kitties! If only there were more people in the world like you!!!!!!

    Mr. M.: Wow! You are very lucky to have a good family to have share Christmas with.
    Did you get the any “Mom” recipes? Say for instance, the cookies? 😉
    Max still doing ok?
    I hope Akemi is staying warm. I get cold very easy, so I know where she is coming from.

    Our Christmas: Hubby’s family is either in jail or having “emotional” problems. With both his parents gone, there are very few cohesive factors left with his siblings. My family is very similar to hubby’s family but no one is in jail, currently (rehab doesn’t count) and my mom is still living. So we decided to stay home and skip the drama. I’ll go see my mom that M. L. K. holiday weekend that is coming up. She had plenty to keep her busy and I’ll see her when she has more time to be spoiled with dinner out/shopping.
    We saw some friends, made a nice dinner and chilled out with some movies. Peaceful.

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All of you!!!!

    Reply
  21. Barbaro Avatar
    Barbaro

    My parents are up from Florida this year so we drove to my sister’s (45 min) and had baked ziti that was really a stuffed shells recipe (lots of ricotta, yum) and mainly talked and played a game called Farkel. My brother brought his dog who, very fortunately, get along with my sister’s dog and we watched them play and carry on inside and outside. Nice day.

    Reply
  22. Naomi Avatar
    Naomi

    Merry Day After Christmas, everyone. I hope yesterday was a good day for all. A special, warm belly rub for Maximus.

    Reply
  23. Debra Avatar
    Debra

    Happy holidays to everyone or season’s greetings for those with no holidays. As Jews, we have strayed from tradition. Jews are supposed to support their local Chinese restaurants on Christmas, but the last 3 yrs we have done Japanese. But we did Chinese last week to help compensate so I don’t feel too guilty. Our local Okinawa Japanese restaurant is great. We watched Dr Who and enjoyed this year’s Christmas special more than any of the others. While there MAY be one at Easter time, new season not out til late next fall. Sigh.

    The dd is going with her father to a hockey game and Bone Fish Grill shortly which means I can put on Josh Groban, Neil Diamond and other music and rock out to Christmas music and relax with the dogs. The DD got up and made wonderful eggnog French toast.

    Hey you going to ask your ex-coworkers to invite her over while she is in France? 🙂 She will be at Universite du Havre from Jan til June, then Paris volunteering for 7 weeks at the American Library until Aug 18. Skype here we come lol.

    Reply
  24. abdessemed mohamed abdelghani from Algeria !!!! ^^ Avatar
    abdessemed mohamed abdelghani from Algeria !!!! ^^

    touday i found your blog ( surprise surprise !!! sorry for the poor english :p ) and i wanna say one thing !! i mees stargate man … !!!!! so long i remember my self i was watching it !!! and in one day no thing !!!! you coulda make a final film at least we can understand somme of the secrets and have a best end for this ” fabulous life scfi journey ^^ “” …well ….just to say i mess the serie ^^ ………and Merry Christmas to you, and everyone ^^

    Reply
  25. henry Avatar
    henry

    Hey Merry Xmas!

    And same time next week New Years! Double the fun.

    Reply
  26. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    1. WOOOOOOO!!! *glomps pg13!* 😀

    🙂

    😐

    😕

    Eww…whoopsies. Uhhh…can somebody peel pg13 off’a the floor. Might wanna get a mop, too…

    *Note to self: The diet starts TOMORROW. 😛

    2. Cat is still not well, but we only saw her this morning. Not sure where she is now. 🙁

    3. Yes, we returned the tv – Mr. Das’ idea, not mine. He hated the picture and sound as much as I did. Have my old tv back, and much happier. I will wait until I have the funds to upgrade my satellite and get a new (and better) tv. I’m in no rush.

    4. Families from our church took advantage of the long holiday weekend and got together with our Spanish-speaking group for a bit of fun. My Spanish sucks, but we all still had a great time: Food, music, face painting, salsa dancing, and games! I played Settlers of Catan (and won! Woo! 😀 ), and Mr. Das was at the rowdy table playing Yahtzee with the guys. There were a couple tables playing spades, and another playing dominos, and mom was playing ‘Imaginiff’ at her table …that’s all I can remember. Lots of fun, and the kids were all thrilled by this Candy Land cake one of the moms made – too cute!:

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/CandyLand.jpg

    I can honestly say that it was the best time that I’ve had in a long time, and any sadness I’ve felt this weekend over the sick cat just evaporated for those hours. A really great evening.

    5. Today I started cleaning out storage files to make way for the 2011 stuff, and to start setting up for 2012. Funsies. 😛 I go shopping for some office stuff, and although I have a nice leather planner for 2012, I could not resist picking this one up – it’s beautiful!: http://www.amazon.com/Marjolein-Natures-Journal-Engagement-Planner/dp/0741239574/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1324941463&sr=8-2

    I love Marjolein Bastin’s art, and have used her cards for years. I am very happy to have this lovely journal now – it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

    I think that’s it. Joe, hope all is well with family, friends, and Max, of course. Have a good evening!

    das

    Reply
  27. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    *I went shopping. That’s what happens when you change a thought mid-sentence. 😛

    das

    Reply
  28. Luis Avatar
    Luis

    Wife and I are having a quiet X-mas at home exchanging gifts nice Dinner wine ….

    Reply
  29. Maggiemayday Avatar
    Maggiemayday

    Thank you, Tam. Yes, he is a great cook!

    Deb, we had Chinese food on Christmas Eve day and today, so we’re doing our share here in Utah to show support for our Jewish friends. I think. I could be clueless.

    Reply

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