Michael Mercer and I were up pretty late playing Left 4 Dead and Resistance 2 last night.  This morning I stayed upstairs for a while as Amanda and Karen got a few things ready to take over to Amanda’s grandparents’ house for the annual big family day after Christmas get together.  It’s thrown every year and is supposed to be hosted by a different family of the grandparents’ generation every year, though oddly this was the first year since I’ve been around that it was hosted by Peggy and Earl Lemons.  Amanda and I appreciated the fact that we didn’t have to go to Raleigh or Oxford for it this year.

I mostly stayed upstairs for the morning.  Amanda and her mom have one thing in common in that they both talk a lot and they’re both loud while doing it.

We went over to the Lemons’ house to help get things ready, although by the time we got there it was pretty much all set.  We had a nice time visiting with the extended family, but there’s not a whole lot to write about in detail.  Caileigh, if I’m spelling that right, Jon and Denise Greene’s baby (Denise had to work and couldn’t come today), has gotten much bigger since we last saw her on for Labor Day weekend.  Of course, babies grow and develop a lot at that age.  She’s walking now and starting to talk.  She’s a beautiful little girl and I had fun playing with her once she warmed up to me.  Of course, Amanda and I are going to steal baby of the family honors in a few months.

Amanda, Michael and I were leaving with Amanda’s dad, Phil, who had come over earlier than the rest of us to help with the pig cooker.  He got stuck in the damp ground, but fortunately Jon Greene had driven his truck and had a chain in it, and, as fortune would have it, was parked right in front of Phil.

Later in the evening we watched the Batman: The Dark Knight Blu Ray movie that Amanda got me for Christmas to go along with the PS3 Blue Ray player.  Phil didn’t make it all the way through, Michael saw it before but couldn’t get into it, I think because he can’t see past the superhero part of it, but Karen said she liked it.  Amanda and I of course had already seen it and liked it a lot.

Everyone else went to bed and Michael and I played some more video games.

Zach Dotsey