Holiday Cranking Up & Crawl Redux

We’re creeping up on my favorite time of the year, Christmas. That meant a trip out to our old stomping grounds in Charlton to our preferred Christmas tree vendor. This is always a challenge for my cold averse Favorite Panamanian, but she handled it like a champ. It’s almost as if she rightfully doesn’t trust my judgement (we all know that to be true). The tree is now up in the living room undergoing her ministrations. I was sent outside to handle the front of the house decorating. She felt this was within my ability levels; it was also very cold (see averse comment above).

Rare Picture of My Wife Outside with Temperatures below 50

Those decorations included a garage door cover that she found on Facebook. She approached me with this purchase after a few beers back in October when she knows I’m more amenable. As with most Facebook ads, this came from China which meant it took forever to get here and I thought it was a scam until it unexpectedly showed up Monday. I was doubtful it would work because it seemed too simple, but I have to admit looks great and was very easy to install. A key point, the garage door still works, which is what I was most concerned about.

The Tree Up, Awaiting my Favorite Panamanian

The Garage Door Cover

Nighttime View of the House

During the recently concluded and instantly revered birthday pub crawl, I noticed Wingman had his high-speed camera with him throughout our trek around Keene. I forgot about that until, during his weekend visit with us, he sent me the below shots he took of the crawl, focusing on the family members crawling with us. My opinion of the crawl needed no embellishment but this certainly did, it brought back the great memories and also the reason I loved this year’s version so much, the presence of both my kids and Wingman.

Keene Friend and I in Penuche's

The Fam in Modestman

Wingman!

My Favorite Son

Daughter Under Attack from Kindergarten Friend

Daughter in Kilkenny's

Talking with Cantankerous Friend

Love Kilkenny's

Showing KHS '73 is #1 in Madame Sheri's

Post Crawl at Keene Friend's House

We Might be Showing the effects

Son Definitely is

A Very Happy Man

Daughter Made herself a Black and Tan

FBR Returning from Afternoon Long Shopping with Abuela

Date night meant a movie, of course. We saw Gladiator 2, which I have been seriously jonesing to see ever since it came out. I was able to extract my Favorite Panamanian from shopping long enough to see the movie together although I had to leave her ticket out front since leaving shopping is not something she excels at. I loved this sequel to one of my favorite movies. They spend a lot of time and effort tying the characters back to Maximus, which I appreciated. The action was a lot more realistic due to the advances in CGI, but this let them wander into some silliness. I mean. Sharks in the Colosseum! Connie Neilson returns and lends appropriate gravity to the events along with Denzel, who, as always, steals every scene he’s in. The lead, Paul Mescal, is a revelation as the grown-up version of one of the original movie’s characters. He handles the action as well as the emotions almost as well as Crowe did. The film makers follow the same type plot line which again totally ignores the true history but this is Hollywood and they’ve delivered a great action movie again, almost on par with the original.

Four movies fell in the A-Z watch, all keepers: Mr. Deeds, guilty pleasure, Sandler comedy; Mr. Right, just love the characters of Martha and Francis, Kendrick and Rockwell have immense chemistry; Mr. and Mrs. Smith, lot of history on display but Pitt and Jolie nailed this; and Mumford, just love this movie with a message of listening to each other.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete –

 my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course