Frohe Weihnachten!!

Frohe Weirnachten!!

Christmas was great this year. Here is the low down.

Christmas #1: Dad's Side

Went to my aunt Lori's house for Christmas like we have the last couple of years. Lot's of people, lots of food, lots of kids, lots of dogs. We ate a Christmas Brunch. French toast, eggs, bacon, ham, cheesy hash browns with baked corn flakes on top, toast, and fruit. There were probably 5 or 6 different chefs in the kitchen preparing the meal. My Uncle Scotty has always been toast boy, but this year my cousin Geoff's wife Kelli releived him of his duties. There were also ffour young girls under the age of five there. It has been a long time since I have been a part of or watched little kids opening presents on Christmas. It was very nice to see how excited they got over the presents. My fraternal grandparents were also in attendance. I have a belief that they are both going to live forever. My grandpa Duke has sliced his neck open on barb wire while sledding, been hit by two cars, served in the European theater during WWII, was a letter carrier for many years, and from what I hear was somewhat of a badass in his more spry years. My grandma Bev has survived breast cancer, a burst stomach ulcer, and has lived with her right side being paralyzed since she was 11 among other things. My grandma has alzheimer's disease so she doesn't really recognize anybody, nor can she feed herself. But yesterday she was an absolute ninja about stealing cookies from the tray. She probably ate at least half a dozen yet nobody saw her reach for the cookies. At one point she was even eating two cookies stacked on top of each other. I don't get a chance to see this side of my family all that often, so it is always good to see them .

Christmas #2: German Christmas

This year we decided to have a German themed Christmas. On the menu was roast goose and duck, potato dumplings, beer boiled brussel's sprouts, steamed red cabbage, a mushroom dish my grandma made, and brote (rye bread). My contribution was the braunschweiger pate` and pumpernickel cocktail bread.
We opened presents before we ate as we always do. And again we all over gave. From my mom a got a collage of pictures in a poster sized frame. Very cool.
As soon as I got to the party I started with the Jameson and waters. I felt good after the first one, and a little drunk after the third one. I made a sixth one for dinner but couldn't finish it. Too much food. Due to my alcohol consumption and lack of sleep the night before I almost fell asleep and definitely passed out right after dinner. Because of this I missed the exchange game that we play. The theme this year was unusual kitchen gadgets. I gave a strawberry huller and got a thing that takes corn off of the cob. I also missed the charity reports. We all did something charitable at some point this year and we reported on it. I was filled in on others and filled in on mine in the morning. After I passed out on the couch my sister took it upon herself to embarass me to the rest of the family. She put bows on my head, bells around my ankles, and some red stuff over my eyes. Revenge is a dish best served cold...not this year. My aunt helped me to bed and before I fell asleep Icould hear my grandma talking downstairs. I hung my head in shame that my grandma stayed up later than I did and probably drank just as much as me. I'm proud of her though.

Got up this morning and trained at the YMCA were I spent my formative training years. I could write a book on the stuff I saw,but I will save that for another time. Here's how it went down:
DE Squat: 8x2 @ 255
DE Deadlift: 6x1@ 285
Goodmornings: worked up to 275x3
Hamstring Curls: some sets, some reps
Abs

Squats went well. On made an ass out of myself on the first set. The J hooks come away from the rack to move them. When I went to take the weight on the first set the J hook got stuck on the bar and made a loud screeching noise. I recovered though and made no other scenes the rest of the day. Now it's time for a nap, shower, and a high school friends wedding. Should be a great time.

Dei Aufhebung ist wunderbar. (The lifting is wonderful)