Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all, and here's hoping 2008 is a great year for you.

I haven't been out hunting much in the last few weeks. I made several trips to Ohio this year and hunted in New Jersey plenty as well, so now I'm turning my attention back to family time. I still would like to shoot another deer or two for the freezer, and some speciality cuts. I like to get a shoulder smoked each year that we later cut into bite-sized chunks and then use what's left on the bones for a nice steaming pot of split pea or Navy bean soup. I also have a good friend who makes some speciality items that I get a few bags of each year. I like to cook too so as deer season winds down, I will be puting the fruits of my labor (yeah, like i can really call hunting labor :~) ) to use on the dinner table.

I have plans to try and videotape a few deer hunts before the season is over too, and my niece is still trying to get her first deer, so I'm not done venturing outdoors quite yet.

Christmas Day was a busy one as usual. We started off early with the kids opening their gifts, and then by 11:45am we were at my father-in-laws house for Christmas dinner with my wifes family...and more gifts. I grew up eating a big turkery dinner with all the trimings for Christmas, but my wife comes from a traditional Italian family and Christmas dinner is an Italian dinner. We started with appetizers of marinated olives stuffed with provolone cheese, garlic olives, shrimp cocktail, hot pepper shooters, more olives, pickles, dips and chips and other addicting snack foods. Part way through the appetizers, I saw the bathroom scale sitting on the floor in the kitchen. Now, I don't know why the scale is in the kitchen instead of the bathroom but I couldn't resist the temptation of a little experiment. I jumped on the scale and checked my weight before eating another ounce. Once we were done feasting on a dinner of sausage, meatballs, lasagna and salad, I hit the scale again...exactly 4 pounds heavier. I ATE FOUR POUNDS OF FOOD AT DINNER!! We were having desert at my mothers house, and opening more gifts, so I wasn't done yet.

As we pulled into my mothers driveway I noticed the conspicuous absence of my brother's family vehicle. As we walked in the door, the rest of the family was just finishing up dinner, much later than we expected. It was then explained that a bit of a crisis had kept my brother, and his wife from dinner, and delayed it for everyone else. Seems that someone else in a hurry to get to their own Christmas dinner ran a stop sign and broadsided the minivan, sending my brother to the hospital, luckily only for pre-cautionary measures. His wife and kids were fine, and the kids were actually at my mothers with a somewhat battered Chrsitmas Turkey that they were bringing over for dinner. Fortunately, my Mom was cooking TWO turkeys, and there was enough for dinner, but leftovers were scarce. By 7:00pm, Jeff walked through the door with a neck collar on but none the worse for wear. Desert was apple pie, pumpkin pie, a large assortment of Christmas cookies, and hot black coffee...but no more scale, I really didn't want to know.

I hope you have a safe and happy New Years, and like always,
Good Hunting-DV