Famille Du Pentium

Snow, snow, everywhere snow.  Except in the warm Humphries-Dolnick house, where we lit candles for the third night.

Aaron got a comforter, which he immediately wrapped himself under:

Aaron Comforter

And is it my imagination, or does Justin always look like this in Hanukkah pictures?:

Justin Excited

The rest of the pictures are available HERE.

Peace on earth, good will toward men.

Seems like everyone in the US has either gotten, or is getting snow.  For those of us here in the midwest, this isn’t big news.  But for people stuck in Seattle, or Las Vegas it’s huge.

Admittedly, the six inches we just got today on top of the roughly 12 inches that have accumulated over the last week isn’t affecting us much.  But everyone seems to be posting snow pictures on their blogs, so I feel I must also.   First is a picture of our back yard from the back door:

Snow - back

The next one is of our street, out front, from the same vantage point.  It’s hard to see it in the picture, but there’s about 2-3 feet of snow along the curblines.  This is a neat effect we get here in snow plow states, where the snow actually gets higher off the streets because the snow plows throw it there.

Snow - Street

Now if you look at that front minivan closely, you’ll notice:

…that the windshield wipers are “up”.  This is the start of a series of “You Might be From Illinois” questions… why are those wiper blades sticking up like that?

To keep the wipers from freezing to the windshield overnight.  Seriously.

Here’s what Dad and Justin did after the Hanukkah festivities on the first night…

Dad & Justin Nap

And here’s Justin up close…

Justin Out Cold

Now that’s what Hanukkah’s all about, I say! 🙂

Tonight was “open Nana’s presents” night …

My mom, bless her heart, lights candles every night of Hanukkah, largely because I converted to Judaism and her grandkids light candles around the same time as her.  There’s certainly a story behind Hanukkah, and I’m sure my Mom knows the story, but the point is that she’s lighting candles on the same night that her grand kids are lighting candles, and that’s what matters.

So here’s hoping we all had a very warm and happy Hanukkah Day 2… pictures HERE.

Yay! Hanukkah is here.

We tend to think a lot about Hanukkah as being a “December-themed” holiday, or the Jewish version of Christmas.  But we rarely actually think about why we celebrate Hanukkah.  Tonight, while I was once again busy downloading the blessings over the first candle lighting, Marla – always the early childhood teacher – was doing a bang-up job of teaching the kids about what Hanukkah is really about.  And now I will relay the story to you.  The story, and links to the pictures, after the jump…

(more…)

No, it’s not Hanukkah yet, but we’re getting prepared.  I’m on vacation now, for two weeks, and the first candles are Sunday night.  We’re also planning a Hanukkah party next Saturday, so this weekend it’s “clean the house” time.

I’ll post the usual pictures and commentary during Hanukkah.  Right now though, hey – I”ve got two weeks off!  I think I’ll go take a nap.

By the way, in the way of “Blog News”, I have slightly modified the commenting rules; new posts will accept comments for 14 days, then comments will be closed.  It’s mainly to reduce SPAM attempts, and most valid commenters usually post their comments within a day or two.

So to review, it’s “black” because that’s the day that retailers actually make a profit.  

In November.  After selling crap all year.  

And in order to do so, they have to cut prices even further… well, maybe.  They certainly charge less today than other days, whether it’s a real price cut or not is still to be determined.

But in any case, I just purchased the following in AMAZON.COM’s Black Friday sale:

Sony STR-DG520 5.1 Audio Video Receiver $169
The Hulk (Blu-Ray disc) $15
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Blu-Ray disc) $17
Star Wars – Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition) (DVD) $15
(some gifts for the kids… not posting them here)
Global Distinctions Buy-One-Get-One-Free Ottoman Set, Black ($40)

All told I spent about $300 bucks this Black Friday.  I hope the economy appreciates it, as I’m done spending.  How’d you do this holiday season?

I hope everyone who reads this blog (all four of you) have a happy, healthy and safe Thanksgiving and enjoy the turkey, stuffing, or whatever fixings you’re planning. We’ll be driving between two houses / families in Des Plaines and Naperville to celebrate Thanksgiving, so if the Tryptophan doesn’t get us, the driving will!

[UPDATE 1:26 PM CST: Ethan is sick, poor guy.  Up all night with an upset stomach.  Not a good thing for Thaksgiving gorging.  Mike is taking Justin and Aaron to the families, and Marla is staying home with Ethan.]

Enough political blogging, feh, I’m sick of it! ;-).

Last Thursday night was Aaron’s Winter band concert; recall that Aaron plays the trombone.   Pictures are HERE, however because of the heavy mercury lighting in the McCracken Middle School gym, my point-and-shoot camera could not focus or auto set the shutter speed correctly, so the pictures came out kind of blurry.  See if you can find him.

Of course, you can’t *hear* the concert from the pictures, and I had no luck trying to record it this year.  Sorry, hopefully I’ll have some sound bytes from the Spring concert.

Quick family-ish update: Aaron made High Honors in school.  We’re absolutely thrilled.  Ethan and Justin’s “Young Atheletes” and swimming programs are over now, so even more free time in the evening.  Next up: Parent-Teacher Conferences, until Thanksgiving, then some blessed relief from the constant running.  Black Friday: Last year, I slept in on Black Friday and purchased my big ticket items online.  Not sure yet if I’m doing Black Friday this year; we’re not planning any big electronics purchases, so it’d only be for gifts (which was the original intention…)  and so far I haven’t seen any great deals on that stuff yet.  Winter vacations: Yeah, uh right… you know I work for a Bank, right? 🙁