Scope already did a bang-up job of telling the highlights of the weekend here and I have little to add but pictures. I especially liked the part in his version where I was dubbed Best Dressed. It really wasn't a dressy affair but I had the dress and I wanted to wear it so I did.
This weekend was like living a scene from The Big Chill, sans dead guy, of course. Although Scope came close to eating the crab dip that had overnighted on the counter and that might've killed him.
The house we stayed in, a lovely bungalow perched at the top of one of the famous dunes in this area, was christened "Scabby Cabin" at some point and I still don't know why. I'm sure there's a story. Are any of the gang out there? How did that get started? Also FYI, I made molds of the locks while John was sleeping and am having keys made. I'm on vacation from the 25th to the 5th. See you there?
On our way there Zellmann and I stopped at a surprisingly good little fish shop in Porter, IN because we were both starving and I really had to pee.
Who am I trying to kid? We stopped because of the name.
There was no heat in the tiny cinder-block building nor was there a potty. Thankfully, my internal organs froze while we ate thereby eliminating the pressure in my bladder.
But the fried perch sandwich was yummeh in my tummeh!
Once everyone arrived we went out for dinner.
And apparently had mussels.
Later on, back at the house, we opened presents and someone had a pants-off dance-off, Christmas style. I've decided this is going to be next year's card, captioned "Merry Christmas, assholes!"
These two are always in charge of making the obligatory stupid gag jokes using household items and they do excellent work.
The paper towel-holder phone is ringing!
Our gracious host had stocked the house well - the ham and the booze were plentiful, and much appreciated when I woke up at what felt like 3 am but was probably 1:30 and went to the bathroom and somehow ended up scavenging in the kitchen with the other vultures.
Drunkenness and lack of clocks aside, there really was a time warp in that house. The setting was idyllic, the company was side-splitting, and time melted away even if the ice and snow didn't.
The guys started breakfast as soon as we got up Saturday morning - WHY were we up that early? WHY? - and the rest of the day was spent sipping mimosas and bloody marys and homemade hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps and grazing on the last bits of the 9-pound ham we had started eating a mere 12 hours earlier. We lounged and played Christmas music, told stories and raunchy jokes, picked on and laughed at each other, and played games like Yahtzee! and "Jumbling Towers", a generic Big Lots version of Jenga that came with the house.
Zellmann and Johnny B even started a game of table-top football using the wine corks scattered around the house from the night before. At some point they must have decided to incorporate the biscuit basket into the game and needed to empty it because I found the left-over biscuits in my purse when I went to leave. It could also have been Jeannie, but she doesn't generally put buttery things in it.
I told Scope earlier that I don't have the right words to express how comfortable and funny and generally awesome these people and these visits are but I've watched this video a couple times and I think the warmth and general awesomeness of the weekend comes across nicely in it.
The rest of my pictures from Chicagoland Christmas 2008 are here.
