On Wednesday night a whole bunch of us went over to Ellen Stagg's apartment for her annual Secret Santa party! Here's Katie and Ellen getting ready to kick off the gift giving! ˆ ellen stagg ˆ katie ˆ gift ˆ

Amanda and Fatty! ˆ amanda ˆ fatty ˆ

Meredith chose the giant Chinese Take-Out box that ended up being filled with... ˆ meredith ˆ gift ˆ

...a bunch of Adams magic tricks! Oh man, I remember when I was little there was a store in the mall that had an entire rack of Adams products, and every time I went to the mall with my parents I'd spin that rack and dream about how AWESOME my life would be if I could buy them. (If my memory of the packaging serves correctly, Meredith is showing off a bottle of disappearing ink, a package of those pellets that you light on fire and they make ash-snakes, and a fake packet of Juicy Fruit that snaps your finger when you try to take a piece!) ˆ meredith ˆ magic ˆ

Amanda got a deck of cards! ˆ amanda ˆ cards ˆ

This lady got a big brown stick with a ribbon on it! ˆ strangers ˆ

I forgot what I got! (All I know is that it was no where near as good as Meredith's grab-bag of gags). ˆ me ˆ bag ˆ

Meredith and Ellen! ˆ ellen stagg ˆ meredith ˆ

Amanda posing with the girl who ended up getting the crazy-shaped mystery present! Everyone was stumped and was dying to see what was inside! ˆ amanda ˆ pineapple ˆ strangers ˆ

Carol scored the other awesome "variety bag" present. A bottle of HBO Rome-themed wine, gingerbread men cookies, a little chocolate doo-hickey, and most-randomly, a copy of the Sex Advice From... book with a photo of Leigh on the front that I shot the cover for! ˆ carol ˆ gift ˆ wine ˆ

Hahaha. I love this photo! Fatty posing with a teeny tiny noodie photo of Ellen from way back in the day. ˆ ellen stagg ˆ fatty ˆ best ˆ naked ˆ

On Friday night I went over to Sarah's for dinner and I brought along the "Pasture Pals" Christmas present that Meredith had picked out for Ellen. Look at that smile! Can you tell how much she liked it? ˆ ellen ˆ best ˆ excited ˆ gift ˆ horse ˆ

Then we ate the awesome dinner that Sarah cooked! Check out Monkey standing up like a weird muppet-person trying to get herself some delicious gnocchi! ˆ best ˆ dogs ˆ monkey ˆ

Mmmmmmm...mission accomplished! ˆ ellen ˆ best ˆ dogs ˆ food ˆ monkey ˆ tongue ˆ

On Saturday afternoon, Meredith and I took the train out to my parents house in NJ so that we could spend Christmas with my fam! I brought along the Wii so that the whole family could play (which we ended up doing for hours on end). Here's my mom and brother getting ready to square off in tennis. But before they played, we decided that we all needed to... ˆ amy b ˆ brett ˆ dad ˆ mom ˆ family ˆ videogames ˆ wii ˆ

...create Miis! Here's my mom's Mii! ˆ mom ˆ mii ˆ videogames ˆ wii ˆ

Here's my dad's Mii! ˆ dad ˆ mii ˆ videogames ˆ wii ˆ

My brother's Mii! ˆ brett ˆ mii ˆ videogames ˆ wii ˆ

Amy's Mii! ˆ amy b ˆ mii ˆ videogames ˆ wii ˆ

And my Mii! Hahaha. ˆ me ˆ mii ˆ videogames ˆ wii ˆ

And then it was on like Donkey Kong! My mom's real-world tennis skills gave her an early advantage - but after two or three games, Brett's video-tennis skills kicked in and he dominated! ˆ brett ˆ mom ˆ mii ˆ tennis ˆ videogames ˆ wii ˆ

On Christmas Eve my family drove down to South Jersey to attend the Birds' annual holiday party. Ann and Walt Bird are my Great-Uncle and Great-Aunt! Here's Uncle Walt who I've always thought looks a lot like the father from the movie A Christmas Story. ˆ uncle walt ˆ

Party people in the house!

My mom with my Walt and Ann's friend who I totally love (but whose name I forget. Awww.). ˆ mom ˆ

Me (in a holiday sweater!) and Mer. ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ us ˆ

Amy and Brett! ˆ amy b ˆ brett ˆ

Later that night, my brother, my dad and Meredith all disappeared from the party. I found them out in the backyard, shaking their tail feathers in the birdbath... ˆ meredith ˆ dance ˆ

...and smoking! (My brother and my dad are twins!). We hung out for a few minutes laughing about how it was only a matter of time before... ˆ brett ˆ dad ˆ excited ˆ twins ˆ

...our mom (who HATES smoking) figured out where we'd all disappeared to. And sure enough, a few minutes later, she found us! Hahaha. ˆ mom ˆ best ˆ the bird ˆ

Later that night, we drove back to my parent's house and we found that our stockings had been stuffed! Meredith even has a stocking with her name on it! (Translation: My mom loves Meredith). ˆ meredith ˆ stockings ˆ xmas ˆ

Amy opening one of her stocking-stuffer presents. (Socks). ˆ amy b ˆ gift ˆ

Meredith opening one of her stocking-stuffer gifts. (Scratch-off lottery tickets). ˆ meredith ˆ gift ˆ

Then it was time to head to the living room and open some presents! (It's a long-standing tradition in my house that we open presents that night before Christmas - it was a tradition born when my parents realized that this was a better alternative than my brother and I waking them up at 5am in order to unwrap our loot!). ˆ brett ˆ mom ˆ gift ˆ xmas tree ˆ

Dad showing off a present! ˆ dad ˆ gift ˆ

New golf shoes! ˆ dad ˆ shoes ˆ

Meredith showing off her card (from me). ˆ meredith ˆ card ˆ

Amy showing off a cookbook about different ways you can fry potatoes...which probably means it was a gift from my fried-food-loving brother. Nice! ˆ amy b ˆ gift ˆ

It's like giving a present and getting a present at the same time! ˆ brett ˆ tongue ˆ

The next day a bunch of relatives came to our house for Christmas dinner. Clockwise from bottom left: Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Wayne, mom, Aunt Elaine, Amy and Brett. Meredith and I = TOTALLY CROPPED OUT! Thanks, dad! Haha. ˆ amy b ˆ aunt elaine ˆ brett ˆ grandma ˆ grandpa ˆ mom ˆ uncle wayne ˆ family ˆ xmas ˆ

Zoe the dog getting ready to open her gift! ˆ zoe ˆ dogs ˆ gift ˆ

Mmmmm....box. ˆ zoe ˆ dogs ˆ gift ˆ

The day after Christmas, we drove way down to south Jersey (by Philly) to have dinner with my dad's brother and his family. Here's my dad with his brother Bruce and Bruce's girlfriend Elyse. ˆ dad ˆ elyse ˆ uncle bruce ˆ

Another holiday dinner! Clockwise from left: My cousin Chris, mom, Amy, Brett, Amanda, my cousin Steve and Mer. (If I remember correctly, this is right before we all got into a big discussion about global warming - because my cousin Chris, who is a consultant for oil companies, doesn't believe it's real. Or that if it is, it's just part of a natural cycle and has nothing to do with humans burning pretty much the ENTIRE oil supply that took x years to develop in just the last 100-odd years. Hmmm....) ˆ amy b ˆ brett ˆ chris b ˆ meredith ˆ mom ˆ steve b ˆ family ˆ xmas ˆ

My Uncle Bruce is a gadget guy - he always has the latest toys! He'd recently gotten a new plasma flatscreen so my dad was only too happy to take Bruce's older HDTV off his hands...and Brett and I were the lucky ones who got to carry the 300lb monster down the stairs... ˆ brett ˆ me ˆ tv ˆ

...and out to my dad's truck.

On Tuesday Meredith and I came home to NYC and found that one of my presents to her had arrived while we were gone. A sweet-ass Rat Crossing mug that I'd noticed on her Amazon wish list. Heheh. ˆ meredith ˆ mug ˆ

When someone you love is going through a tough time, you gotta be there with hugs, ridiculously bad-for-you food and lotsa booze. Some random Cheesecake Factory out in New Jersey seemed like a good place for the healing to begin. ˆ cheesecake factory ˆ

Sean, Sarah, Greg, Alexis, Leigh and in the center of the table, deep-friend macaroni and cheese balls! ˆ alexis ˆ greg k ˆ leigh ˆ sarah ˆ sean dack ˆ cheesecake factory ˆ food ˆ

We ordered waaaaay too much food... ˆ greg k ˆ sarah ˆ cheesecake factory ˆ food ˆ

...and totally ended up getting like five doggy bags that were FILLED with leftovers. ˆ alexis ˆ leigh ˆ

Fried macaroni makes my stomach feel like this. ˆ me ˆ ugly face ˆ

Deep-fried avocado egg rolls (!!!) make Sean's heart feel like this. ˆ sean dack ˆ ugly face ˆ

Deep-fried crispy taquitos make Sarah smile (albeit with a wonky-eye)! Hahaha. ˆ sarah ˆ wonky ˆ

After getting our food and drink on, we headed to the nearest townie bar and proceeded to get shit-canned! Townie bars in NJ pretty much rule. Drinks are like $3....

...and they always sell cigarette brands you've never heard of. "Full Flavored" Gold Coast! Mmmm, mmmm! ˆ smoke ˆ

$3 drinks + Full Flavored Cigarettes = Pictures like this. ˆ alexis ˆ leigh ˆ sarah ˆ scott m ˆ tongue ˆ

Hahaha. ˆ leigh ˆ me ˆ sarah ˆ ugly face ˆ

On Friday night Meredith and I went out and we ended up getting drunk with Sean... ˆ meredith ˆ sean dack ˆ

...and Sarah! ˆ me ˆ sarah ˆ

There was butt-crack. ˆ buttcrack ˆ

For New Year's Eve, Meredith and I went to a party... ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ nye ˆ us ˆ

...at Apt 3a! ˆ apt 3a ˆ crowd ˆ nye ˆ

We had just arrived and were just settling when we realized it was midnight! Happy New Year! ˆ vince ˆ nye ˆ

Woooo! Happy New Year! ˆ nye ˆ

Bromance! Happy New Year! ˆ ellen ˆ joe ˆ hug ˆ

Kisses! Happy New Year! ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ kiss ˆ nye ˆ

Happy New Year, Sarah and Monkey! ˆ sarah ˆ cute ˆ dogs ˆ monkey ˆ nye ˆ

Happy New Year, Ellen! ˆ ellen ˆ

No, Happy New Year to you, Jenny Penny! ˆ jenny penny ˆ

Happy New Year, squinty Vince and Karen! ˆ karen ˆ vince ˆ

Happy New Year, Bella! Party on! ˆ bella ˆ beer ˆ

The rest of the night was pretty mellow. ˆ apt 3a ˆ

I bro-ed down with Brandon... ˆ brandon ˆ me ˆ

...got down on the accordion... ˆ accordion ˆ

...and laughed about the lipstick graffiti in the bathroom (Totally true, BTW!). ˆ me ˆ mirror ˆ

Happy New Year, Shruti and Ollie! ˆ ollie ˆ shruti ˆ

The next thing I knew, it was after 3am and the party was winding down! ˆ karen ˆ

No more! No more! Goodnight! ˆ brandon ˆ sarah ˆ drunk ˆ

I found Meredith hiding in one of the bedrooms snuggled up in a bathrobe and figured it was time to head home! Happy 2007, everyone! ˆ meredith ˆ couch ˆ