Sweeneyblog v2.0: Wonderful memories of Christmas and New Years and blah blah blah

Hello again, friends. We're back and better than ever, or at least very close to being quite adequate. We have some pictures from Christmas, but I need to address an issue. At my practicum site, we are constantly trying to eliminate barriers to providing service. A barrier to posting more often is that it takes forever to post pictures. Blogger.com needs to work on this. It takes forever to post this stuff.

Having said that, we had a great Christmas. Our holiday celebration took place over several days. The first event was the Thorpe family gathering at the Thorpe compound in Troy. Let's see how that went:

Uncle Bill introducing Ava and Eleanor.

Ava has poor boundaries.

Aunt Molly made it to Troy in time for Christmas. Her luggage did not.

Even Molly couldn't save Eleanor from Ava's hugs.

Emily helping Eleanor open her calligraphy set.

Good times all around in Troy. We had a wonderful meal consisting of all starches. Beef and noodles, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole. I think we had thinned mashed potatoes to drink. Good times. Next up was the Hartzell gathering in Cincinnati.

Eleanor = sweet pink Chucks
Grandpa Hartzell = sweet plaid pants

I'm pretty sure they didn't know I was taking their picture.

Molly with Eleanor and her first Cabbage Patch, whose name I can't remember.

This is Kali, who ended up receiving the acclaimed Zombie Haiku in the White Elephant gift exchange. This was the second best gift in the exchange this year.

The best gift was an autographed picture of Robert flashing his National Championship ring. Here we are wearing matching sweaters. Later that night we got each other's names tattooed on our lower backs.

Christmas Eve was...I forget what the weather was. I'm pretty sure it didn't snow. We were lucky enough to have our friend, Kristin, join us for church and dinner on Christmas Eve. First up was dinner at with the Thorpes.

How do elves get ready for Christmas Eve? They mow the living room.

The Thorpe Clan at the club, with bottles full of bub. I'll give you few guesses what we're in to.

The bow tie really makes the picture.

Next it was off to the Sweeney dinner. I was worried that someone at the Sweeney gathering would say something offensive to Kristin, but everyone was on their best behavior. Uncle Terry only made one wiener joke!!! Amazing!!! Also, we only ended up getting two decent pictures at my parents house, which you can see below.

Brian looking like a douche.

Getting ready to say bye to Aunt Tomato.

After settling our brains for a long winter's nap, we woke up to open presents. Actually, I woke up around 6:00 and asked Emily if we could get Eleanor up. I was told not until 7:00. Even when it's my house, I'm still not allowed to wake up before 7:00 on Christmas.