Oink

Hello to all!

Happily ensconced in North Branford, CT and have been since yesterday afternoon. Mike is downstairs making pizza (with bacon!) while his mom is upstairs making every known combination of fish and sauce in the Western hemisphere, and his sister is doing something wild with mushrooms and vegetarian food. The house smells alternately like garlic, fruit, oil and fish. Apparently this is known as the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes, though since we had leftover calamari for breakfast it might be more like eight.

It is not, clearly, like any Christmas (or Eve) I've ever celebrated and it's so much fun! There's a ridiculous amount of food (I contributed Berger's cookies to have a taste of Maryland involved; Mike keeps saying he thinks they're going to be shaped like little hamburgers). But they require several glasses of milk to get down, they're so sweet. Being a huge Italian food fan, I'm all about tonight. It should be amazing, and guests are due at any moment.

Oh, and I shouldn't forget: Meet Pete, or as Mike and I call him, Pigdog. He makes piggy noises (or, if you've seen "The Orphanage," like the mutant kid). Here he is, bedecked in jingle bells.

He's going to eat our shoes at night.

Merry Christmas or nearest facsimile you have, and hope you get some nice booty — of any stripe.

Yum!