It was the first time we’ve been able to get down to see Erin’s new house since she moved in back in the summer of 2010. I know, I’m a terrible brother and I acknowledge we should have gotten there sooner.  It was a full house because my mom and my sister Kate made the trip down from PA while my brother Casey and his friend Steve came in from Durham, NC.

We left on the 27th of December and came back home on the 30th.  It was an uneventful trip, although Brett threw up in the back of the car a little over an hour into the trip there.  After a quick clean up it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.

The big highlight was celebrating my nephew Lucas’ 8th Birthday.  We ate like pigs on his big day.  We went to Smokey Bones for wings and barbecue for lunch and then we enjoyed a great birthday dinner (by Lucas’ request) at their Japanese steak house.

Jean and I are so very proud of him because we know all the effort and hard work he put in throughout the summer to make his sophomore season a success.  He was the consumate team player and when they needed a goalie to finish out the season, he volunteered to help out the team.

Well done Slick!

We opened presents around 7:30 with Grandmom Phil and Aunt Kate, ate a brunch of baked eggs and ham, and finished up with a killer roast for dinner.  We had Aunt Kate’s friend John join us for dinner but compared to the night before, it was pretty casual around the house.

Aunt Kate brought her camera and here are some of the pictures she took from the morning.  If you’re looking for a photographer, check her out at on her website and on Facebook.

Here’s Brett opening his iPod Touch.  He rated gifts in order of importance.  #1 was the iPod Touch and #3 was an Aaron Rodgers Jersey.  He missed out on #2, which was a 20″ HD TV with Cable box for his bedroom.  Not something Santa brings to most 8 year olds but it doesn’t seem like he minded too much in missing out on gift #2.

Jim Opening Packer's Stock

We ended up serving roast beef sandwiches with gravy fries. The meal was similar to what you would get at Nick’s Roast Beef, which is one of Jean’s favorite places to eat.

We had Jean’s entire family over (23 people in total) so we spent a lot of time on Saturday morning getting the house ready for the party.  As we were doing this, Jean peeled and cut the potatoes (20 pounds) by hand and blanched them all in a fryer.  Once the entire gang showed up we fried our french fries in grease over an open flame out in the garage. It may not sound so tasty but I’ll tell you they were a hit.

Jean’s mom cooked and carved the roast beef the day before and we heated the meat up in crock pots Saturday afternoon.  We served the sandwiches over Corropolese rolls and everyone seemed to enjoy the mini-feast.

After cleanup, we headed over to catch 9 pm Christmas Eve mass at Sacred Heart before getting ready for Christmas Day.

We’re all owners of an NFL franchise.

I guess Jake and I need to check our schedules to see if we can fit in the NFL Winter Meetings…

Here’s Jake’s 10th Grade school picture.  It’s weird, he actually has long hair in this picture, believe it or not.  It’s not his normal 1-1/2 cut he gets at the barber.

I wish when you ordered pictures they gave you a digital copy of the picture as well. Some of us don’t have a scanner that works.  I would love to be able to take a picture of the picture without any glare but that never works out. Oh well, he’s still looking pretty sharp.