It's the end of the world as we know it ...

 

... and we feel fine. Part of the reason for that is we invited a bunch of our mutual friends over to celebrate the end of the Mayan calendar and civilization as we know it. We invited everyone to bring along whatever food and drink they'd like to indulge in for their last day on earth, so we had shrimp cocktails with champagne, pigs in blankets, cookies, and everything else you can imagine (including homemade egg nog from Phil and Jen). We played an insanely silly game of "Encore," which required us to name endless series of songs containing a word chosen from a deck of cards. I think we could have let Jen and Jessica do most of the guessing. My brothers even stopped by to join us, and we had a pre-Christmas gift exchange before calling it a night.

 

You also might have heard about a line of snowstorms that hit the midwest over the past week — we went from being green and soggy to having a white Christmas after all. That was good news for Hannah, because she got to put on her snow clothes and go outside to experience snow for the first time in her life (and just in time for her 13-month birthday). She seemed to enjoy it, though she discovered quickly that walking in snow wasn't going to be as easy as toddling around on the driveway. This was also the first time she's ever walked outside.

 

On Sunday, Vivian and I celebrated our First Date anniversary, commemorating the night six years ago when I took her out for the first time to the French Cafe (completely by accident — La Casa Pizza was unexpectedly bursting at the seams and didn't take reservations). We went to see the Hobbit at the Twin Creek theater, which was a very decent film, albeit very long and padded with extra scenes. (Remember the "extended" versions of the Lord of the Rings films? Yeah, it was like that times two.) Afterward, we headed up to Benson and had a dinner of tapas at España, making use of an about-to-expire coupon. I had a decent margarita and we both filled up on an assortment of tiny dishes served family-style: fried cheese, blue cheese stuffed mushrooms, Picadillo de Carne, Flamenquines, and seviche.

Afterward, per tradition, we made our way down to the Old Market and braved a few blocks of freezing cold to get some egg nog fudge from the Old Market Candy Shop.

Next stop: Christmas!