Clair, Ninja, and I spent Christmas Day with Clair’s dad’s family out at the family farm in Wabasha, MN. As usual, there was too much to eat. We played some snow football to work off the gluttony. At sunset, the score was tied which seemed like a good time to end the game. Elaine, Clair’s grandma, thought that was a very nice idea. Clair’s aunt Mary was not so elated. I guess she’s not happy unless she can laugh at the losers. Afterward, we played a charade-like game, guys vs. girls. It was a close game, but the women won. I think we all agreed that that was the best outcome possible.

Clair, cousin Nick, LuAnn, and hound dog Frodo

This year, we had Christmas with my parents BEFORE Christmas. It worked out pretty well. We showed up in Chippewa Falls on Friday, December 21. The first thing we did was check into the glorious Indianhead Motel. It is the cheapest hotel in Chippewa Falls, and now we know why. It was a concrete cube with a toilet and a shower. It was nice they were dog friendly, but next time we’ll hit up a nicer hotel closer to my parents’ house.

On Saturday, the whole family showed up. Tammy and Mike, their 4 kids, Scott, his 4 kids, his new girlfriend Jo, and her son Adam. With Mom, Woody, Clair, and I, the house was FULL! Also, we brought Ninja and Scott brought Oreo. Here are the dogs with Machiah:

After dinner and presents, the kids were excited to bust out the Wii. It didn’t take long before the adults were joining in. Here, Scott is showing us what’s what in Bowling:

I’m pretty certain that all of my relatives can kick my butt at Bowling on the Wii. I have Tennis, though.

Here it is, Christmas time when time and money are short. On top of that, Baby Girl Anderson is growing quickly in her mama, and eventually she’ll need to come out, so we’ve been saving up for her delivery and a new family-friendly station wagon. So wouldn’t you know it? The fuel pump went out in Clair’s car, which will cost $1000 to fix. Argh…

But instead of putting more money into her junker, I decided to test my mettle. Clair can have my car (a beat-up, rusting ’93 Civic with god gas mileage), and I’ll take the bus. It is a quick shot to and from work right now. Thirty minutes door to door. Half of that is walking time. Who knows? Maybe when we get that station wagon, we’ll get rid of my car. We’ll see how the next month or two go.

So says the Fat Rooster Squirrel.

For our first real work outing in over a year, our manager bought us all Vikings tickets for the Monday night game against Chicago. Since everyone knows I’m from the Land of Cheese and Beer, I’ve been harassed into buying a piece of Vikings paraphernalia for the first time. I’ve been given a Vikings hat before when I worked a fund raiser at the Metrodome, but I have never paid for anything Vikings related. I now have a purple hoodie.

Just when you thought you couldn’t wait any longer, here are the ultrasound pictures of our little daughter-to-be:

I’ll put the pics up here as soon as I remember to get them from her.

It’s a girl! More info will be posted later tonight.

Due to some weird twist of fate, I managed to find a perfect St Nic’s gift for Clair: a t-shirt with a pregnant samuri schoolgirl on it. On Wednesday night, Mike O. and I went to the Lagoon to see a free screening of Juno. It is a movie about a pregnant teenager who is trying to give her baby up for adoption. It is actually a comedy, a very good one at that. One of the characters gives Juno a comic book about a pregnant superhero named Yuki. After the movie, they handed out t-shirts with Yuki. Classic. If you see Clair soon, be careful when reaching to touch her belly. She might channel Yuki and slice off your hand.