Jingle Bell Rock

Christmas Eve
The whole day was the kind of a riff on the usual Allen family tradtions. It was like it was the same, only different. Why is that? A lot of reasons: 1) Some things are a headache and didn't need repeating, 2) Lauren, Craig, and I are married and have the subsequent (yet wonderful) complications that go along with that 3) See number 1.

The morning started out with a big breakfast (pancakes, eggs, bacon, hashbrown cassarole, crescent roll / cream cheese icing thing). This is a fairly recent tradition, usually done at IHOP. As you all know, eating at IHOP can be ridiculous. Instead, we stayed in and Mom & Dad did the cooking. That saved a headache, and helped garuntee that Craig & Amber could leave for Hernando, MS when they needed to. Also, it had to be cheaper.

After breakfast and clean-up, we exchanged gifts. Usually we do this at Granny's (dad's mom's house). It's always seemed kinda of silly, hauling them to her house and back just to unwrap them. I think it also calmed my 2.5-year-old neice down. Worth it.

At 2:30, the family (minus Craig & Amber) went to go see Yogi Bear in completely adequate 2D! All told, it wasn't awful, Analise enjoyed it, and it wasn't terribly long. Probably ate too much popcorn though (more on that later).

Almost immediately after the movie, we regrouped at the house and headed down to Granny's for dinner and a few presents. Jennifer & I got Granny some Jack Daniel's coffe, which went over really well. All told, it was a pretty mellow evening, which is what I think we were going for. We got back well after 10:30pm, which was not ideal, but much better than we've done before.


Christmas Day

In the wee hours of the morning, I was visited by that old holiday elf: indigestion. That's no fun at 5:00am. Several TUMS and 2 tblsp of Pepto Bismol later, I was good enough to go.

Jennifer & I made it to her parent's house a little after 8:00am. There was a nice calm before the storm. With six siblings, and something like +10 kids under the age of 13, the best thing to do is stake out a corner of the room and don't move. They can detect motion. Jennifer & I got some nice gifts, both individual and for the both of us. There was too much food before and at lunch.

Around 1:00pm, we made a break for it and headed to Nan & Pop's (Mom's parents' house). What did we do there? Eat lunch, again. This was a pretty low-key event as well - mostly adults. Jennifer got a nice robe and basket and I got a Scrade Old Timer 3-blade knife. Good times.

Finally, it was over to one of Jennifer's aunt & uncle's for Christmas desserts. We missed a good bit of the drama (oh well), but things were still simmering a little bit. This time we found the house without too much trouble, at least.

November Five One Seven Niner Hotel

Got into Memphis, TN pretty late Wednesday evening. We got on the road right around 6:00pm, as I figured we would. However, sometime shortly outside of Trinity, AL we realized that I had not grabbed Jennifer's home-made chocolate truffles from the freezer. Doubling back for that added about another hour to the trip, putting us at my parents' house around 11:00pm. It was my fault, I admit; but it was the only thing I forgot, considering all the gifts, luggage, food, and cat paraphernalia that I had stuffed into the Pontiac, that's not too bad.

The intent of the day was to finally redeem the birthday gift I got from my parents - an introductory flight lesson at Downtown Aviation. Dad was originally going to join me (he nabbed a lesson for himself on some discount online store), but had to cancel due to work demands, so Jennifer rode along instead. Getting started was a little bumpy: 1) I had a 10:00am reservation, which they had marked down; however, no instructor had been booked. We got started at 10:30am, which was good enough; Doug was a great guy 2) After the pre-flight check-out of our Cessna 172, we couldn't get her engine to turn over due to the recent cold snap. The eventually got her running (by jumping her off with a Suburban! - I think).

I wasn't quite sure how it was going to go, other than my certainty that I would not be doing the taking off or the landing. Once we got airborne and above 1200 ft, however, I had the stick. In a word: Righteous. Mind you, Doug was in more control than a driving instructor the entire time (I didn't really fool with the throttle). We made a few turns, buzzed downtown Memphis, and flew under the Hernando-Desoto bridge (well, not really, but how cool would that have been?). A short 30 minutes in the air, but it was awesome. I may just be hooked.

Later in the day, we met up with Angela Dunn to exchange Christmas presents. We got her some UT salt-and-pepper shakers, she gave us a picture frame and some home-made cookies. I think we won that little exchange, but at least Angela's chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal-raisin cookies don't look the same.

We wrapped up the day with dinner with my parents & Blake at Memphis Pizza Cafe. Delicious.

West Bound & Down

Hitting the road in a few hours, with a car load of presents and a drugged-up cat.

Good times. Good times.

Memphis St. Jude Half-Marathon

So, Jennifer and I ran the Memphis St. Jude Half-marathon the other day. And yes, I completed the thing (don't be hatin'). We did it in right about 2:30:00. That's a little slower than Jennifer's previous times, and an awesome time for me.

The pasta dinner at the Lambert dining hall in Christian Brothers University was tasty, and free. We also somehow got knock-off underarmor shirts that the Lasallian Volunteers made for themselves. The theme: Running in Memphis. Not awful, I guess.

The morning of the race wound up being 20 degrees warmer than anyone expected, which was a good thing. Jennifer & I both ditched our underarmor, and were glad for it. There was plenty of awesome Memphis music from the 50s before and during the race, which was great.

I don't remember a whole lot of the race itself. I guess I had "cleared the mechanism." Two days later, I feel like I got hit by a bus. Why people love doing this, I don't know. And don't get me started on marathoners...

Food and drink at the finish line were great. A cup of McAlister's chicken tortilla soup, a couple of slices of pepperoni pizza, and a much-needed Diet Coke had me feeling very elderly (instead of very dead).

After all is said and done, I guess I'd do it again. Except next time, I'll bring a couple of band-aides. I learned a very important lesson about cool temperatures and chaffing. Ouch!