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Our last Christmas party

You’ll pardon the fuzzy nature of this photo.

That’s my father-in-law and his best friend. “Friends for 60 years!” they said today. They are each the godfather to the other’s kid(s). Bob and Clem’s wives went to nursing school together. Between the two families they had three daughters, and they essentially grew up together. This is about as close to family as you can get without the DNA, which just makes it better, really, because you’re choosing all of those people in your life.

And so it is fitting that this is the last Christmas party of the season. But it was the “Friends for 60 years!” comment that you really like. Especially if you are an in-law, as I am. They all have so many wonderful stories together, two generations and so many decades, and they are all fun to hear.

Then someone goes to the back and pulls out this photograph, because somewhere along the way they discussed it and realized that no one but Bob had ever seen Clem’s upper lip:

That was a photo he’d rescued from his father’s house, one of those thousands of items salvaged from the millions and millions of memories lost because of Hurricane Sandy. We heard Sandy stories, we had homemade lasagna that you wouldn’t believe. We unwrapped presents. We watched the two little kids play. They are the only two kids I’ve met my entire laugh that don’t want to play with me.

That’s OK. I played with their trains, invented a game (that they loved) and made a video:

And I had Sammi, the love dog:

Can’t beat that for late Christmas fun.

Now bring on the spring.

adventures / Friday / iPhone / movies / photo / Twitter / video — Comments Off
28
Dec 12

Look down, look down

Seen alone or with a friend, knowing the story or completely new to it, as a moviegoer or — as I did — with Broadway purists, Les Mis is good.

Russell Crowe, as Javert, is the weakest part of the performance. And he was reasonably acceptable.

The best part was this: Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean Valjean, plays the Bishop of Digne. It is a great part, and so obvious and well done, and everything is in good hands throughout.

This is pretty incredible, too:

Typically, the soundtrack for a movie musical is recorded several months in advance and the actors mime to playback during filming. However, on this film, every single song was recorded live on set to capture the spontaneity of the performances.

Saw that this evening. Beforehand I got a shave. The professional kind. The someone-else-has-sharp-implements-aimed-at-your-face kind.

This was a unique Christmas gift my father-in-law and I received. He made the appointment, we went down to the salon this morning and saw this sign:

I knew about this association of barbers and blood letting, but this was a good time to be reminded. Especially so soon after my fall haircut experience where my local barber almost took off my ear. It clearly got to him. He got me out of his chair quickly, without finishing the haircut, which was why I had a great feathered look for a few days as my hair got to a certain length.

Alas, there would be no hair cutting today, just face shaving. And this is how they do it, as my father-in-law went first, I could watch with detached cool from the sofa in front of SportsCenter.

Getting a professional shave (my first) as a Christmas gift. The door says “The experience brings you back.” So will “No nicked veins.” Heh.

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

The first step in this pro shave (I’m next) is to recline 180 degrees, cover and place under harsh light. The client looks mostly dead.

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

There is skin moisturizing, a towel over the eyes and then the lather. Don’t Fear the Reaper is playing in the salon. I’m not kidding.

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

There seems to be some moving of the nose as the razor comes near. That’s promising.

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

Now comes more lather. Blue Oyster Cult is off the air, replaced by Phil Collins who can’t feel a thing from his head down to his toes.

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

Now the post-shave balm. The towel over the eyes never came off, which I believe is the international signal for “GET ME OUTTA HERE.”

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

Now the client is mummified under a stack of warm towels. A man’s face is extremely sensitive, despite all those westerns you’ve seen …

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

I think this part is the face massage. I’m guessing that by now you are either asleep or wondering why you don’t do this everyday.

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

And now the face gets powdered. Didn’t see that coming.

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

And the finished product … that is one good looking face. Which means I’m next.

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

My father-in-law reports: “That was amazing … I’ll definitely do that again.”

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

My shave is complete. Didn’t get nicked, better than I can say of my own efforts. If you haven’t had a full service shave you should.

— kennysmith (@kennysmith) December 28, 2012

She only missed one spot. Also better than I do.

Have you had a professional shave? The next time you have a big event coming up you should consider it.

adventures / family / food / photo / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
26
Dec 12

Hockey night in America

We had a white Christmas. There is video and everything!

We went with the in-laws for pizza tonight. Pepe’s is the best I’ve ever had, and it never disappoints:

Then we saw hockey. They took a perfectly good facility, with a leaky roof, and put water on the floor. Then they utter several Harry Potter incantations and the stuff turns into ice with lots of colorful markings beneath the surface.

And then these guys slide around, shuffling back and forth a hard rubber disk with sticks that on occasion break. Occasionally they would pummel each other into the plexiglass that surrounded the rink. One fight was cheered on by the many in attendance.

David Ullstrom, of Sweden, made the hometown proud with three assists. Switzerland’s Nino Niederreiter, on the left, poured in two goals:

Cameron Talbot weathered 24 shots. It was the four that got by him that were of the greatest concern:

On the other end Kevin Poulin controlled the crease, allowing two goals early in the third period, but the visiting Whale rally ended there:

The Sound Tigers added on an empty net goal by Ullstrom with one second left in the game to skate to a 5-2 victory.

And I’m beginning to shake the cold I’ve had since Sunday. So there’s that, too.

adventures / photo / Tuesday — Comments Off
18
Dec 12

Allie has a Christmas card

I joked last week about sending out a digital card. We even have a good picture from last week’s adventures.

It’d be a great way to tell where you fell on the spectrum. You could save a stamp. Your wrist wouldn’t hurt from writing all of those addresses. No envelopes to lick.

When we wrote ours last night Allie wanted to get in on the act. So we made her one too.

She doesn’t have stamps, so just feel free to print a copy of this for the mantle.

adventures / memories / photo / weekend — Comments Off
15
Dec 12

Memories …

On this day, four years ago, I put a ring on our tree in Savannah and asked The Yankee to have a lot more fun with me. She agreed that this could be a good idea.

Before I knew it a guy was offering to make us some of those bamboo floral things some of the street entrepreneurs sell to tourists. I didn’t even have the ring past her first knuckle and someone was already asking for money. Heh.

We sat in that same place yesterday, a beautiful day. They’ve all been pretty wonderful ever since then, though.