Merry Christmas Two Days Ago!

Merry Christmas! Christmas Day, and the day after, were two wonderful days for us. We saw all our Michigan relatives and had tons of yummy food and good fellowship with moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, and even far-away cousins via Skype. A good time was had by all, and too many cookies and pieces of pie were had by me. My diet starts tomorrow, as they say. Or maybe later this afternoon.

A Very Plunger Christmas
Last year, at our dollar gift exchange, K wrapped up a small sink plunger, and Mary was the fortunate recipient. At K's birthday last summer, she returned it to him in the state you see it below: Daniel had added some feathers to make a plunger arrow worthy of a plumber Cupid.


To give it back, it had to be given a more Christmas-y look and feel. I thought a lighted "tree" would be nice. Here's a picture of the wiring in progress, in which it looks like a homemade explosive device from a bad movie.


The final product - there is a switch at the base that turns on the lights, and it has a little hat on top to keep it warm.


Lyrics That Ruin Christmas Songs You Once Liked
The Plunger Tree inspired me to write some new lyrics for some classic Christmas songs. I hope you like them.

Oh, Plunger Tree
Sung to the tune of "Oh, Christmas Tree"
Oh, Plunger Tree
Oh, Plunger Tree
How brightly lit thy handle!
Oh, Plunger Tree
Oh, Plunger Tree
It really is a scandal!
A clogg-ed sink, or W.C.,
A pain for you, a pain for me

Oh, Plunger Tree
Oh, Plunger Tree
It’s better than a candle

Plunger Tree
Sung to the tune of “Jingle Bells”
Plunger Tree!
Plunger Tree!
Plunger all the way!
Hairballs, toenails, facial soap
Plunge away the day (hey!)

Plunger Tree!
Plunger Tree!
Plunger all the way!
Oh what fun it is to plunge
Till the drain is clear of gray.

Saxophone News
To get the bad taste out of your mouth after reading those lyrics, I'll leave you with (a picture of) the musical stylings of M, who performed with the eighth-grade band a few weeks ago. They play some very impressive music these days, preparing for the top-notch high school band.

Tennis Plus Turkey Day Plus Links

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The weekend is nigh and, while there is not a lot of news, having a nigh weekend is celebration material enough, I think.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house last week. Everyone was there that we could reasonably have expected, even John, who only had a 48-hour hiatus from his job on tour with Pearl Jam. Some Christmas card pictures were taken that day – I won’t publish any of them and spoil the surprise, so this year you’re going to actually have to open what we send you to see what we look like, instead of placing it directly on the Recycle pile.


K demonstrating his very consistent serve in Monroe, MI

K played in his first USTA Junior tennis match last weekend in Monroe. He played two games of singles, and one game of doubles against a talented Monroe YMCA team. He was very evenly matched with his opponents, which is the goal of the organizers. We're impressed with his skills.


M and J went to the UM/OSU game last weekend. It was cold, which caused M to dress like this. UM lost by 1 point in a nailbiter.

Some links I’ve been saving up
Did you know this room existed? Next time I’m in Florida I’m going to see if I can get a tour of this.

I love the trains at Henry Ford Museum, these pictures are almost as good.

Automaton!

There is a ton of time left to buy me this for Christmas.

Robots! (although I like the cars the best)

You’ve probably never heard this musical instrument before. It’s a combination harpsichord, organ, and cello, invented by Leonardo somebody or other. More info.