Christmas...church gnomes and formal dinners.

I'm not sure why, but I'm in a Christmasy mood this year. I think much of this can be attributed to our Christmas tree, which I've named Pokey, and Sufjan Steven's Christmas album. Check it out.

Pokey came to us from "up North" where one of our NOAH volunteers has property. He chopped us down a tree and brought it to Amy and I for Christmas. Pokey already has lights and ornaments.

Even bottle opener man got to be on the tree. He insists on being photographed upside down.

This is my car. Looking at it the other day, I decided the Explorer was not happy with me. Afterall, it never agreed to operate in Michigan's cold and snowy climate. I caught myself feeling bad for not warning the Explorer about the inclement weather. It did look kind of dirty and icy from leftover snow. So, to appease the car, I promised I would drive it by its birthplace, Ford headquarters.

This is Abby. She's the church secretary's helper dog. She's become my dog away from home.

Dot is not happy about the situation, at all.

At Central UMC we have what I like to call, a church gnome. His name is Mr. Brown. He's really just the church maintenance man, but I choose to believe he's the church gnome. Mr. Brown is about a million years old and never says a word, except the ocassional "howdy do." Ok, he really doesn't say that, but I wish he did. I also like to imagine that he lives in the church basement and enjoys playing the flute. I couldn't get a picture of him, yet, so I decided this would do for now. One fine day I'll get a picture of Mr. Brown, church gnome/maintenance man.

Dinner Party...

The other night I decided Amy and I should have a formal dinner, for no particular reason. The kind where you sit on the far end of the table from your dinner companion. Like Mr. Burns would on the Simpsons. We unfolded the leaflets to the dining room table and put on our Sunday best, for no particular reason.

Because we were so far away from each other, conversation got a bit awkward.

It's a good thing the milk mellowed me out. Ummm...nothing like a good heartland 2%.


Amy was a good sport to indulge my weirdness. I feel like there should be more about our dinner party, but we didn't take many pictures...and without pictures, its really not the same.

After dinner, I assumed my position at the sink, con beer.

In other news, I'm on the brink of solving homelessness. -Tyler