Merry Christmas to all

Christmas of 2006 was another great year. It was our first married Christmas, which was not too much different than holidays of the past. We are fortunate enough to have our families living in the same town and celebrations at different times of the day. This makes it a bit of a hectic holiday, but it is nice that we get to enjoy the celebrations with everyone. We had a wonderful time with our nieces and nephew. It really made us miss the days of being a kid at Christmas.


Gracie showed us how adorable baby reindeer can be. Santa was very good to her this year, bringing her a piano and a sports play set.


Natalie and Kendall also had a very busy Christmas. They were busy making yummy cookies on Christmas Eve so Santa would bring them Pixel Chicks.


And Mr. Nolan was just trying to get his hands on any box or toy he could chew on.

We had a great first married Christmas together. We got some great gifts, but most of all we got to spend the holiday with our friends and family.

in my defense...

I feel as though I should post something in my defense. Dennis's posts have made it seem as though I am an evil train-hater out to demolish anything that goes choo-choo. The reasons that I keep kncking over the train are as follows:

1. The lights for the tree are next to the train. I am usually the one to unplug them at night and it is dark.

2. I am in charge of watering the tree. It is a bit difficult to actually get to the tree stand through the train, the ornaments, and the presents. Sometimes one of them bites the dust. I was watering the tree in the picture Dennis posted last time. Oh, and don't worry Ellen I was not hurt, I was trying to get up quickly to avoid being in the picture.

3. I am a klutz. I get this from my mother. 'Nuff said.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!??

So moments ago this happened:

Yes, that is right, Teresa once again knocked over my train. My train that is UNDER the tree and WAS NOT moving.

Why? And all this after spending the last 5 hours at the car shop. What a great Saturday I am having.

What did I ever do to you?

It is Christmas time. When you are decorating for Christmas, you usually go all out. A Christmas Tree is one of the most important decorations that you probably spend the most time and are most proudest of......Well not in our house. In our house there is something more important to me than the tree. What do you think that is? Lights......Nope; Ornament......Nope; Tree topper......Nope; The most important part of the tree display is obviously the train that goes under it.

With this being our first Christmas together we set bar high...we got a real Christmas tree and brand new Lionel train to go under the tree. I purchased the train back over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend at Lantz's Train Shop while in Horseheads. To me, the train is much more important than the tree, that after we returned to Buffalo I set up the train in the spot where the tree may go.

Once we added a tree with all the trimmings the train was looking great. Things couldn't be better......

One day after returning home from work, I was greeted with the following Post-It on the computer desk:

I was shocked, stunned and sad all at the same time. My poor, defenseless train had been knocked over. But wait, but this intentional? If you notice the note starts out " I tripped on the train..." It does not say "I accidentally tripped on the train...." I begin to think that she did this on purpose because I was more excited about the train and not the tree. Come on, the train is under the tree, it does not run all day long and it is in a circle....how did you "trip" on it then? Well, this has happened a few more times since this first time. I am not sure what I did to deserve it. But maybe while I was at work this day, this was what was happening at home: http://www.banditos.info/speles/sobersanta2.swf

Deck the Halls

All's well in the Hall household these days. We can't believe that December is upon us already. We had a nice relaxing weekend with not much planned, so what better way to spend it then by decorating for Christmas? We both grew up in houses where we used to get a real tree, and then as the kids got older the artificial tree prevailed. I'm guessing that our parents probably did this because as teenagers, we were not very helpful with all the work that a real tree entails. So, Dennis and I decided to go all out and get a real tree this year with the sap and the needles, and of course that wonderful smell. We didn't really go "all out" per say, we just went to Home Depot. We found the perfect tree in about 5 minutes, (which all the other shoppers were very jealous of), strapped it to the roof of the good ol' Kia Spectra and over the river and through the woods we went.

We brought the tree into the living room into the wonderful Swivel-straight tree stand (which I highly recommend) and we had a very straight tree on a very crooked floor.

Teresa handled stringing the lights up while Dennis tried to understand why half the strand only lights up on 3/4 light sets. By the time we were done, we had 5 strands, with some strategically placed non-working bulbs!

Then, we put up all of our mishmosh of ornaments, the tree skirt, and our new train and all of a sudden it was a pretty darn good looking tree. We were inspired by the bit of Christmas in our home, and continued to...

Deck

The

Halls

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we encountered something neither of us had experienced before...we were not in Horseheads to celebrate a holiday with our families. Due to Teresa having to work early Friday morning, we were unable to make the trip back home for Thanksgiving, so we did Thanksgiving for Two here in Buffalo.

The day started out early...Dennis had signed up for the historic Delaware Avenue YMCA Turkey Trot 8K (5 miles). This year was the 111th consecutive running of this event, making it the oldest continually running footrace in North America (even older than the Boston Marathon). The weather was perfect for running...clear, sunny skies and temps in the upper 30s, low 40s at race time. Dennis hasn't been running as much lately with work and the cold weather so no records would be broken today. He did alright running 42:33 minutes, placing 1463 out of 7583 runners.

While Dennis was out running Teresa was home starting to make Thanksgiving for Two. With neither of us ever making a Thanksgiving dinner, we really did not know what to expect... But this was lunch.


We went shopping for all the trimmings.. 1/2 a turkey breast (prepared in a crockpot), pumpkin pie, rolls, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes and even green beans. All day the house smelled awesome and was a big tease because we were not sitting down to eat until 6pm. Teresa really out did herself with the preparation of this meal. The biggest problem that she had was keeping Dennis out of the turkey while it was cooking.



Once everything was prepared, it was about time to carve the Turkey, err...the Turkey Breast. Dennis has never carved a Turkey, usually it already has been craved and ready to be put down, but there is a first time for everything..



Now that the Turkey Breast has been carved, all the food has been prepared, the table has been set...there is only one thing left to do...EAT UP!!

On this day we find we have a lot to be thankful for..through ups and downs we are thankful for our strong families and supportive friends that help us get through the best of times and the worse of times of this past year, we are thankful for the new life we have started with each other, we are thankful for the having jobs that help provide the roof and food we have a daily basis...But most of all we are thankful for having all of you in our lives.


Here's to all of you, Happy Thanksgiving!

Where are we....?

I am sure some of you are wondering why we have not posted anything on our blog lately. Maybe no one is even following our blog. For those that are looking periodically at the blog we thank you and apologize for the lack of updates. We really do not have any excuse. Work has been extremely busy for both us. Teresa's schedule is jammed everyday seeing patients. Dennis has recently started his new position at work and is finding it to be more involved with daily decisions than his past position. So the time we both get home, we are to beat to even think about jumping on a computer.

As we have become pretty settled into married life, we are finding the change to be pretty good. We may have dated for a long time, but living together is a whole different ballgame. So far, we seem to be doing pretty well. Of course there are those small habits that we need to adjust to of the other, i.e., Teresa leaving drinking glasses here and there or Dennis being OCD about picking up. But all in all, we seem to compromise and make it work.

We are pretty much done unpacking and settling the new pad and will be posting some pictures of our place in the very near future.

Dennis and Teresa's 4th Annual Halloween Party

Once again we held our Annual Halloween Party, but it almost did not take place this year. I was supposed to go to a Notre Dame/Navy game this day. But due to lacking vacation time and work functions that I could not miss, I was unable to attend the game. However, we did have a good time with great costumes as always.

I was Richard Simmons. Don't I look ready to "Sweat to the Oldies?" Check out those legs!















Teresa was Paris Hilton...complete with her Bitch in her Louis Vuitton bag. This year's winner of the best costume, and first two time winner, was Greg Thurber. Here he is pictured with Teresa waiting for a Physical Challenge.

The guys

If you couldn't tell, Teresa posted the first, well the second blog entry. My attempt when I set this up last week was pretty weak. I was tired and cranky. Most of know that those are two factors that prohibit me from doing anything with much effort.
As I was reading Teresa's post about the wedding, I noticed that she failed to mention what me and my crew where doing the morning of the wedding. So allow me to recap......At the conclusion of the rehearsal dinner we all decided it would be a good idea to make sure we lived everyone minute of my wedding weekend to its fullest. A few of us decided we were a little thirsty and my buddy Brian Bordon, who was back home from Seattle, had patiently been waiting to visit some local watering holes. We went to Corning and shot some billiards and threw a few cold drinks down, but nothing crazy since I promised my soon-to-be wife that I would not be hungover for our big day.
On Saturday morning, we all met at Old Country Buffet for a breakfast and some last bachelor moments. Well, for all of you that don't know us, we are always up for a challenge. As nine of us waltzed into OCB ready to "eat the hell" of the place, they escorted use to the secluded dining area that was separate from the rest of the dining area. I think they were terrified that we were going to eat them out of house and home, well we came close.
After spending a nice two hours at OCB, it was getting closer to wedding time (about three hours), but it is Saturday....It is Saturday in October....There is college football on and it is the MLB Playoff season.

Notre Dame was playing in the afternoon and the Yanks were playing a do or die game in the early evening. So we all headed back to my house...No not to get ready, but to catch some of the early football games. So while the girls were frantically applying make-up and getting their hair done, us guys were more concerned if there was more beer in the fridge and how he made that play.

But we are guys and we do not need more then 15 minutes to get ready for any event, no matter the importance.

And yes...I wore my Retro XI Air Jordan's (at the reception).

Welcome to our blog!

Yes, we have done it. We have jumped on the blogger bandwagon. It's a good thing, really. This way, we can keep all of our friends and family updated on our very exciting lives (he he). As you all know, we were recently married. We had a truly wonderful day, and want to rewind it and do it all over again. For now, we will have to just look back at the pictures and relive it in our minds. We figured that we would post some non-professional pictures of all the events surrounding the wedding for everyone to see.

It all started with the rehearsal. We all practiced walking slowly, standing in straight lines, and trying to keep the flowergirls from freaking out. Afterward we chowed down on a delicious buffet at the El Monte Inn. Yum!

Early the next morning, the girls got ready for the wedding

The little girls needed a hot chocolate break

Then it was wedding time! The new Mr. and Mrs. making their way down the aisle.

We arrived at the reception in style...a 1920's fire engine. The bridal party patiently awaits the best part of a wedding, eating, drinking, and of course lots of dancing.

The wedding was really an incredible experience. We planned for over one year, and it seems that it was over in the blink of an eye. It was so awesome to look around and see all these people that you have known throughout life together in one place. We are now settling in the new place. We came back to quite a mess in Buffalo, but were quite lucky considering the damage that many people had. Now it's wedding withdrawl time, and we will have to accept the fact that people are not going to applaud every time we walk into a room any more.