Gavin unfortunately dropped one of his pizza slices face flat on the table. Despite his disappointment, most of the remains eventually made it to their intended location.
After dinner we had everyone over at our apartment. With this particular crowd, Strawberry Crush is a must for any party, so we made sure to stock up before they came.
Dan and Christie
Forest, Gavin, Dan, Chris, and Darren posing under the "festivus" lights
When we got to my parents' house on the evening of the 25th, we were greeted with a warm dinner and a giant braided loaf in the shape of a Christmas wreath. We were also greeted by two dogs--my childhood dog Shean and Annie.
Above is Shean on the left and Annie on the right. My parents were dogsitting Annie for the holidays.
Pancake slice with blueberry jam and blueberries
Another slice of pumpkin-chocolate pie
I also had a chance to visit with some old high school friends while we were in town. Below is me with Brittany Ruch.
Me, Kathy Briggs, Anne Marie Hardy, and Denise Fornoff all used to play in a string quartet together in high school.
It was a wet and rainy weekend, but Sunday cleared up enough to take the dogs for a walk.
Since my dog is 17 years old, he can't do much walking anymore--but he still scampered around for a bit.
My one request for the weekend was to eat some Japanese udon noodles at some point. We enjoyed the warm meal for lunch after returning from our Sunday morning walk.
Parry's annual Christmas tree is never intended to be the most elegant of holiday decor--in fact, the sparse branches and awkward shape are precisely what provide its unique charm.
We made pizza for dinner one evening while we were there. Two of the pies we did deep-dish style. The above photograph is posted courtesy of my sister-in-law Maria, who is quite the food photographer. For more detailed shots of the event, see her blog post.
Above is Parry with his new pizza peel. It was supposed to be a Christmas present but we gave it to him a little bit early, thinking it would be useful for the occasion.
Our friend Gavin poses below with a t-shirt we picked out for him. He and Forest have always been huge Abraham Lincoln fans.
We've decorated this miniature tree for our first two Christmases since we got married. It's the perfect size for our little apartment. Next to it is the little puppy Forest got for me . . . he apologized that it wasn't a real one, but like the tree, I think it is also perfect for our current abode. Tall trees and real puppies can perhaps be things to look forward to in our future home.
At the end of the semester I played in the last orchestra concert I will be playing in for a long time. We got to perform Stravinsky's Scherzo a la Russe, Yoshimatsu's "Cyberbird" saxophone concerto, and Beethoven's third symphony.
Forest and I got to see the Illinois basketball team play Clemson at Assembly Hall. We were down on the floor--a couple of people said we popped up on the TV screen.
Bruce Webber in the middle of a timeout huddle
