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Rach and I are having an awesome Christmas so far.  We opened presents and stockings listening to Christmas carols.  Beta was running around attacking every bit of tape that managed to find its way to the floor.  She has a real fascination with tape, she actually likes to lick it (Beta, not Rach).  I think she likes the way it sticks to her tongue.  Last night we had Eric and Jane over for Christmas Eve dinner.  Rach made a brisket, potatoes, and broccoli and every bite was heavenly.  Later we went over to an early service at church where Rach played in the bell choir.  She played two songs, neither of which I can remember the names to, but they sounded beautiful.   

Speaking of opening presents, both Rach and I got a Zune HD for Christmas.  The Zune HD is an amazing portable music player and we’re busy today setting them up (mostly with Christmas music ).  It’s funny because we’ve owned every generation of Zune and the HD version is just light-years ahead of V1.  We also really like the Zune software and Zune pass since it basically means that we can download and listen to any music we want.  Finally the Zune has wireless so it can renew its licenses over your home network instead of needing to plug it into a computer.  I think the one place that the Zune is currently falling down is in 3rd party accessories.  Finding a speaker dock for it is difficult at best and I’m pretty sure there are basically 2 options, and one of those is an alarm clock. 

As you may have heard my car radio was stolen a while ago.  I’ve been looking to replace it, and now that I have a Zune I was thinking it would be great to get an aftermarket radio that supported the Zune in a natural way.  For iPods it’s possible to get a Kenwood (or other brand) radio that has a USB interface.  You can plug the iPod in directly, and the radio will allow you to control the current music being played; it also integrates with the rest of the radio features.  For example, if that radio supports bluetooth and cell phone interaction it would pause playback on the iPod when you picked up a call.  Additionally it charges your player.  Sounds great right?  Sadly no such thing exists yet for Zunes.  This is definitely a failure on Microsoft’s part.  The Zune certainly doesn’t have the market adoption of iPod, so I’m sure that’s the reason there aren’t tons of options – but there should definitely be at least one option.  I’m currently waiting for CES on Jan. 6th in the hope something might be announced there.  CES is a large conference focused on consumer electronics.

If anyone is interested, there are various options for getting a Zune to work with your car.  This is, as far as I can tell, the complete list at the moment:

 

Solution	Issues
FM transmitter and plug	This is what Rach has at the moment.  It works pretty well, but you cannot control the Zune with radio which makes it a bit dangerous while driving.  Also, if you happen to drive to an area where the station you’ve chosen is broadcasting then you can get interference.
Aux input	This is exactly what it sounds like.  You can get an aftermarket radio with an aux input on the front.  You just plug the Zune into it.  Unfortunately you still can’t control the player with the radio, and additionally the player doesn’t get charged.
Soundgate kit	This is clearly the best option if you have a factory installed radio.  It does everything I list above, though it requires some installation.  We’ll probably look at this for Rach’s Honda.
Buy a Ford or Camero	It turns out that Fords and Cameros have Zune integration built in.  Unfortunately we’re not in the market for a new car in order to have better integration with the Zune

 

CES is coming up, so hopefully we’ll see something better than!

One of the coolest things about the Zunes is that you can have them laser etched when you order them to personalize them.  See below for the pictures of the inscriptions that Rach and I got each other   For reference “Groovy kind of love” was our wedding song, and I’ll let Rach explain the significance of Ghostbusters.

Okay, how is Anson beating me in the number of posts?! 

I thought I would post on our Christmas decorations. When we got home from MD we decided we needed to decorate…and the old decorations would not do! As you might recall from our pictures from last year, I had hand-made  decorations. Well, I couldn’t hang them this year because I don’t have a ladder or a way to get them on the ceiling. So, they had to go. PLUS, we had gotten rid of the old, fake Christmas tree. We were decoration-less!

First things first. We went on a mission to find a fake Christmas tree. The  plan was to get a real tree this year, but after cutting down trees with the Dallavalle family, we determined that Anson’s allergies were still too bad. We went to Home Depot. Michaels, Lowes, Target, another Home Depot…no luck! Most of the stores only had a few trees left and those only had white lights. We really wanted a tree with multi-colored lights. And Anson’s Christmas wish was for a tree with LED lights (yeah, he’s a dreamer ). We had almost given up, but then we stopped by Sears. Like all the other stores, they only had 3 trees up and they all had white lights. Then I was approached by a 16-year-old-ish red-headed boy named Richard (like our own personal Christmas elf!). He asked what I was looking for and I told him about the dream tree. He pointed to a box sitting in the middle of an aisle and told me that it happened to contain the one and only multi-color tree left…with LED lights YAY!!!

So, we got the tree! Then, we ran back to Target and picked up a few more ornaments (they had the best selection left out of all the stores we went to). We went home and put up the tree, lit it up, and hung the ornaments. Done, right? Nope!  The tree wasn’t quite Christmas-y enough. So, the next day I went out to find a tree-topper. I walked several stores, including Holiday Lane (Macy’s holiday store) at the mall. And I noticed something…NONE of the artificial trees in the stores had tree toppers. In the past, I was never able to find a tree-topper light enough to stay on top of the tree without making it bend. So, I changed my mission from finding a tree-topper to just finding out what people use to put on top of artificial trees. I found a number of trees had bows on top. So, I ran to Ben Franklin and had some bows made. I grabbed some extra ribbon and spiral tinsel. I ran home and put them all on the tree to surprise Anson. He got home from work and loved the tree! How much did he love it? Well, while we were in MD, his mom let us take all of these old moving/musical ornaments from when Anson was little.  When they arrived in the mail the other day, Anson didn’t want to put them on the tree! Anson? Saying no to musical/animated ornaments?! It was craziness! He decided that we should get a miniature tree next year just for those ornaments

So, here are our Christmas decorations for 2009:

The nativity my Mema gave us for a wedding present

Christmas wreath on the panty door (because it wouldn’t fit on the front door).

Our stockings hung by the window with care Right next to the rapping snowman.

Our Christmas tree and presents! The picture really doesn’t do it justice

 

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Greetings from Maryland!  We’ve been on the east coast for a few days now and have been keeping pretty busy. On Sunday, a few hours after getting of the plane, we went to cut down Christmas trees with Angie, Eric, Kira, Mary and Tim. We had a lot of fun picking them out, but decided that Anson’s allergies might not be able to handle a real tree (no matter how much he wants one). That night we had a great family dinner with the Hortons. Anson finally got to meet Daniela! Also, his mom made one of his favorite dishes, chicken/sausage/potatoes, so it was a good night

Monday, we went to Angie and Eric’s house to do a Hotovy family dinner. They grilled steak and chicken (also one of Anson’s favorites) and it was super yummy! I think Anson is getting spoiled by all of these amazing dinners. It is going to be pretty tragic when he gets back to WA…

After dinner, we played the traditional Hotovy family Christmas game. This year, the prizes were novelty t-shirts. I managed to snag one that says “More Cowbell,” which I fully intend to wear to my next bell choir rehearsal. Anson got one that says “I’m what Willis was talkin’ about.” There are a few others (such as, “I often wonder if the frisbee is getting bigger. And then it hits me.”) which I am sure all of you will see over the next few months   There were candy canes involved which allowed you to steal shirts or force trades. It’s too bad Tim wasn’t able to make it…I’m sure the game would have gotten pretty intense over a few of those shirts. Mary was too nice After that, we decorated one of Angie’s Christmas trees and then played some board games. See some pictures below:

 

My mom’s earrings were blinking Christmas lights. And Kira, cute-as-a-bug in her Christmas dress!

 

Anson and I, rockin’ our Christmas sweaters.         Angie and Eric, wonderful hosts.

Kira and Mary, opening presents. As you can see, Kira opened her gift a bit faster

 

    

Angie with her “Pregasaurus” shirt. The second picture is my dad officiating the game and Mary winning a t-shirt.

  

These are a couple of tree decoration pictures This is just the upstairs tree….

 

On Tuesday we got to spend the day with Anson’s family. We played Buzz Word in the afternoon and got to run around town a little bit during the day. For dinner, we had brisket (I think Anson will go on a hunger strike when we get back). It was delicious!  Afterwards, we opened presents (see below):

 

 

The beautifully decorated Christmas tree! And Anson’s mom, opening her birthday card. It was “edited for content.”

 

   

The Grandmas both enjoyed reading their cards

 

   

Aaron likes to have his picture taken. Really, he does. <evil laugh>

 

   

Anson’s Dad opening his present and Schrodinger wrapping himself up in the extra paper

 

It has been a busy, fun-filled trip so far! I’ll post more later this week. Though, unfortunately, probably not many more pictures. I forgot to pack the battery charger and the camera was blinking at me tonight. Fortunately, both of our dads like to take pictures, so maybe they will email me some to post <hint, hint>.